


Journey of Faith

by Stoner_Guru



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003), Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-14
Updated: 2013-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-04 15:19:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 40,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1082581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stoner_Guru/pseuds/Stoner_Guru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following a wish from Alan Finch's vengeful widow, Faith Lehane finds herself deep beyond enemy lines of a war for Humanity's survival. Faith/Barolay. Abandoned and being rewritten, will post new story/series soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Journey of Faith

1\. Occupation, Part 1

Journey of Faith collage

Journey of Faith

Summary: Following a wish from Alan Finch's vengeful widow, Faith Lehane finds herself deep beyond enemy lines of a war for Humanity's survival. 

Disclaimer: Buffy is owned by either Joss Whedon or the Kuzui family. Battlestar Galactica is currently owned by Syfy and/or Ron Moore. Either way they aint mine, and I pray Disney never gets hold of them.

 

Los Angeles, 2005

”This woman, your husband's murderer, is living free. Doesn't that just burn you up?”

Cathryn Finch turned to look at her new friend and co-worker, Teresa Steinbeck. Her eyes blaze with anger at the memory of Faith Lehane's re-trial and acquittal, which she'd witnessed herself.

The past few days since the conclusion of said trial had been emotionally draining for the widow Finch, and her nerves were more than frazzled. Opening her mouth and closing it again several times as she struggles to gather her thoughts in the whirlwind of her mind.

“I hate her.” Cathryn finally gets out, and Teresa allows a small grin to grace her features.

“Don't you wish they'd just given her the death penalty the first time around?” the second woman presses, but Cathryn shakes her head.

“No. It would be too quick for her. I wish she has to experience loss and suffering a thousand times worse than I did when Alan died.” the widow unwittingly gives the vengeance demon exactly what she'd come for.

“Granted.” Teresa rasps, turning her now visably demonic features to face Cathryn, who lets out a bloodcurdling scream.

 

Cleveland

Faith let out a tired grunt as she dropped onto the bar-stool, her entire body sore from the fight she'd had just a few minutes prior with a particularly irritated nyxac demon. 

“Lemme get a shot of whiskey, straight up.” the formerly dark slayer orders from the bartender as he comes around. She gives a small smile as he nods and moves away to get her drink.

“Have them put it on my tab.” Faith looks to her right to see a balding man in a fedora sitting a few stools away from her. Her eyes narrow as he tips his hat in her direction, and an uneasy look comes over his face as her own expression turns angry.  
“Now, now... no reason to get excited here.” He says placatingly, as he realizes that he won't need to introduce himself.

“Whistler.” Faith growled low as her drink was placed in front of her, and she turned away to grab the shot and slam it back. “Angel told me about you.”

“Shouldn't be surprised I guess.” The balance demon replies with a shrug, keeping his gaze locked on her. “We need to talk.”

Faith grimaced as she felt the burning sensation of the whiskey as it travelled down towards her stomach, and indicated for the bartender to bring her another. “So talk.”

Whistler looks visibly uncomfortable as he takes a quick glance around the barroom.

“Okay, so here's the sitch. One of D'Hoffryn's 'employees' exacted a vengaence wish against you on behalf of a Cathryn Finch.”

Faith paled as she recognized the woman's surname, and her gaze falls downward for a moment as regret and guilt hits her. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Whistler intoned solemnly, hating his job for what was far from the first time. “The Powers have decided to give you a choice. Hard times lay ahead of you either way, but if you choose to accept a mission for the powers, we can make it that in the end, you'll have your redemption... and a little something extra if I can wing it.”

“Huh.” Faith remarked drolly, pulling her head up to look at the messenger. “I doubt this.. opportunity comes without a catch.”

Whistler gave her a stiff nod in response, and she let out a tired sigh. She turned away briefly, and grabbed up the new shotglass to quickly slam it back.

“Well, out with it then.” the Boston native demands feeling a bit tipsy as the buzz begins to build up within her.

“You won't be a slayer anymore, and you won't remember your life here.” Whistler informs her, and Faith gives him an incredulous look before turning her expression serious.

“I'll do it, but where the hell are you sending me?” She questions.

“You wouldn't have heard of it.” Whistler answers as their eyes meet once more. “There is one other catch that you should know-”

“No, there isn't.” Faith disagrees with a shake of her head. “You just told me that I won't remember my life here, so I'm not even going to even remember this conversation, am I.”

“Fair enough.” Whistler says, slowly rising from the stool, and preparing to leave. “If you want to say goodbye to your friends, do it before you go to bed tonight. When you wake up, your mission will have begun and you might not get the chance to see them again.”

Faith gave him a slow nod and watched as he tipped his hat to her, then turned on his heel and strode out through the front door. She remained on her stool motionless for a few moments, then reached back to pull her wallet from her pants' pocket.

She tossed a twenty dollar bill out and tosses it onto the bar, then follows the path that the Balance demon had taken just moments before.

Stepping out into the cold night air and onto the street, she pulled her pack of cigarettes from her jacket and took one out to press it between her lips. The slayer fumbles with the zippo lighter for a moment before successfully igniting it.

She begins the walk toward the hotel that she had been staying at since her official release from state custody a few days ago, and takes a deep drag of smoke into her lungs.

The walk to said hotel takes about fifteen minutes and she had just finished off her second cigarette when she reached the entrance. She tosses the cancerstick to the sidewalk in front of her, and crushes it underfoot before making her way inside.

Quickly crossing the lobby, she jumps into the empty elevator car on the far left just before the door closes, and jabs her thumb against the round button marked 13.

The ride is relatively short, stopping only once to pick up a middle-aged couple on the eighth floor, who were heading for the roof-top resturaunt. She gave them a polite nod as the car reached her floor and she stepped off onto her floor.

She makes her way down a couple hallways, and finally reaches her room. She unlocks the door and pushes it open to enter, and pulls it shut behind her. Once it's locked, she makes her way to the bed, dropping down heavily upon it, and a moment later she finds her gaze drawn to the telephone on the bedside table.

She stares at the communication device for a few long, almost agonizing moments, wanting to make good use of Whistler's advice, but not having the slightest clue as to how she was even going to say goodbye, or if any of them would even want to hear it.

Finally her hand reaches out and takes the phone from it's cradle. She holds it up to her face and uses her shoulder to keep it held up as she shakily reaches out to dial a number.

She listens to it ring four times before the click informs her the other end has been picked up.

“Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless.” Faith holds back a chuckle as she hears Gwen's voice on the other end, towing Angel's company slogan.

“Hey Gwen.” She greets amicably. “It's Faith, I need to talk to Angel.”

“Yeah, no problem. Give me a sec.” Gwen says and Faith hears her yell out in the background, clearly holding the phone away from her a bit.

A couple moments later she hears her mentor's voice come over the reciever.

“Faith?” The ensoulled vampire asks, not having expected to hear from her so late at night. “What's going on?”

Faith was silent for a moment, then steeled her nerves and decided to get down to the heart of the issue at hand.

“I got a visit from an old friend of yours.” She says, tears beginning to well up behind her eyes. “Whistler came to me with an offer from the Powers.”

“Oh.” Angel replies, never having really cared for the Brooklyn-accented demon. “I can come and help you with whatever he wants you to do.”

Faith felt a pain twisting in her gut, but forced herself to remain steadfast. 

“No, you can't. Not this time.” She says, reaching up with her left hand and rubbing her sleeve against her eyes, which are starting to redden. “This is something I have to do on my own, and then I'll be squared with the whole redemption thing.”

“Are you sure?” The vampire asks her, his tone searching.

“Yeah.” Faith nods to herself, since Angel can't see her. “I don't know if you'll see me again, so I thought I might take advantage of the time I have to say goodbye.”

“Faith, I'm not gonna ask where you're going, if they've even told you. But as I'm not getting any older, I'll be sure to find you when you get back, if you don't find me first.” She hears Angel say, and feels her heart break a little bit. 

“I love you Angel.” She whispers, barely audible to even the vampire. “Goodbye.”

She doesn't give him a chance to reply before disconnecting the call and returning the phone to the cradle. A couple moments pass, and then she breaks down in sobs, collapsing across the bed.

Within a half-hour, she'd cried herself to sleep and that's when everything changed for her.

xXx~DT,DD~xXx 

~Occupation, Day One~

At the sound of the first explosion in the distance, Faith's eyes shot open and the on-leave viper pilot shot up into a sitting position on the bed she'd been laid on. For a couple moments she just sits motionless atop the matress and then another explosion goes off, this one sounding closer than the first.

Her eyes go wide and she more or less jumps off the bed to run over to the window of the small cabin she was staying in for the duration of her vacation from duty on the Battlestar Triton. She reaches the window in seconds and throws open the drawn curtains, filling the room with light from outside.

“Frak me.” She curses at the sight of the mushroom cloud on the horizon, pretty sure that it used to be the capitol city. She backs up a couple steps from the window, her expression horrified for a couple seconds before she burst into action.

She runs over to the closet and throws the door open, before reaching down and grabbing up her emergency pack, which she'd kept in the case she'd need to make a quick return to duty.

Faith swings the pack secure over her shoulder, and quickly vacates the cabin, heading down the wooded path to the east that led down to where her viper was 'parked' in the valley. She lets out another curse as another boom sounds off in the distance and she spins mid-stride, very nearly tripping over an upturned rock, but she manages to grab hold of a treetrunk to keep upright. She stays motionless for a couple seconds, then continues her run towards the valley lot.

Coming up to the valley at the bottom of the hill, she suddenly stops short and then throws herself into the brush at the forests edge, as she catches sight of several metallic beings standing amidst the docked ships. She hits the ground with a muted thud that she hopes isn't heard by what she is fairly certain were Cylons.

In a quick movement she rolls over onto her stomach and pulls her service pistol out of her waist holster, taking aim in the general direction of two of the ten or twelve foot tall robots that were milling around. She keeps herself from firing, knowing the odds were that she was vastly outnumbered and it was doubtful that rescue would be coming.

Her gaze falls upon a blonde woman in a blue jacket as the woman walks into view from where she'd been hidden by one of the docked ships. Faith's eyes widen with alarm and concern for the woman's safety, but she reins herself in from attempting to shoot and save the blonde's life.

Her decision is fortunate, as the woman walks right up to one of the cylons, no fear visible on her face as she says something that Faith cannot make out from where she's hidden.

A few moments later, it becomes fairly evident what had been said as the cylons and woman both begin the way up the path to where the cabins reside, passing right by Faith's hiding spot, no more than six to eight yards from the Colonial officer. She thanked her luck, and is about to move out to get to her viper when the explosives that had been attached to the various ships is remote activated.

Having just risen to her feet, Faith lets out a scream as the force of the explosion lifts her right off the ground to bounce off a tree a couple yards behind her.

“It's a human! Kill her!” Faith's head snaps to the right as she pulls herself up, and she finds that the blonde woman is staring directly at her.

The next few seconds are a blur of insanity, Faith jerks to the side as a bullet impacts her shoulder, thankfully missing anything vital, but still it hurt like a son of a bitch. She spins around to the other side of the tree, which would keep her from the line of fire for a moment or two, and takes sight of the cliff face about three dozen yards from her position. She knew that there was a deep river about forty feet below, and with a little luck she could make it to the edge, dive off and let the river carry her far enough away. She jerks a little bit as a bullet whizzes by her head, telling her that the cylons are moving around and knows if she doesn't move now, she's dead.

“See you in hell motherfrakkers!” She screams, and runs as hard as she can toward the cliff, firing her gun wildly behind her. In a few short seconds, she reaches her intended destination and flings herself from the top, falling the distance to the turbulant waters of the river below.

She hits the surface with a heavy splash and is dragged about fifty to sixty feet downstream before she breaks the airlevel again with a deep gasping breath. 

Looking up as the currents carry her further away, she can see the blonde woman standing atop the precipice above, her eyes following Faith's journey until the brunette pilot is pulled around a bend and disappears from view.

After maybe fifteen minutes, she decides that she cant stay in the cold water much longer without risking serious health problems, and slowly paddles her way to the shore. 

By the time she manages to pull herself onto the grainy sand, her shoulder is throbbing from the bullet wound. Shakily rising to her feet, she sees that the small beach is bordered by a paved road, and she can hear the sound of a truck's engine rumbling and growing louder with each passing moment.

The pain from her injury increases with each passing moment and step towards the road, and she stays conscious just long enough to see the truck come into view before collapsing in a heap just a few yards from the road.

 

It was dark outside when she regained consciousness with a shuttered gasp and panic in her eyes.

“Whoa, easy.” She hears someone say to her left, and slowly turns her head to face the speaker. “You were shot, and the stitches are still fresh. Wouldn't want to tear it back open.”

“W-who are you?” Faith manages to rasp out, her throat scratchy and dry.

“Brother John Cavil, it's an honor to meet you Lieutenant Lehane.” The middle-aged man introduces himself, pausing for a moment before speaking again. “Or do you prefer Nightshade?”

“Faith is fine.” The twenty-six year old viper pilot replies with a bit of hesitation, keeping in mind that the cylons were working with humans, and for all she knew this man could be one of them. “Where are we?”

“A lodge at the base of the Chamele range, with the radiation from the nuclear attack, going up into the mountains is the only safe option. At least until the fallout settles.”

“How's a priest get so knowledgeable about nuclear fallout?” Faith inquires, her tone belaying her suspicion.

“I was a medical assistant on the Columbia during the Cylon war, and we had a few patients that had been exposed quite badly. I daresay it wouldn't be recommendable that either of us get caught up in it.” The priest replies, his tone solemn.

“Are there any other survivors here?” 'Nightshade' presses as she pulls herself up into a sitting position and then bringing her left hand up to press against her bandaged shoulder. “Your work?”

“Yes. I apologize if there's any discomfort, admittedly I'm a bit out of practice but I got the bullet out.” Cavil tells her with sideways look as he rose from the chair he'd been sitting in. “There are a couple others in the front room, they picked me up about twenty minutes before we found you. One's a cop, grabbed the others when the first round of bombs fell, and fled here from Avens. It's been destroyed as well.”

He pauses for a moment, and to Faith it appears he is thinking heavily about something. After a long moment of silence, he speaks once more. “If we head south after the fallout settles, it'll be weeks on foot to reach Karn, but if we can get through the mountains, Delphi is maybe six days.”

“What, are you asking me where we should go?” Faith asks incredulously, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, and shakily rising to her feet. She turns to face Cavil, her eyes having lost a bit of the earlier suspicion, only to be replaced with uncertain disbelief.

“Of the five people in this building, we are the only two with any affiliation with the Colonial Army, and as I'm just a resigned medic, you have rank.”

“Frak that. I'm a pilot, not a commander.” Faith curses, shaking her head at the idea of giving orders to anyone.

“Be that as it may, you are the best hope of protection for us, at least for now. The others already know that you're an officer, they saw your tags when we found you on the side of the road. They're hoping that you'd know of a way to get off planet.”

“Sorry to get your hopes up, but those frakin' toasters blew up my ride.” Faith replied wistfully. “I'm just as lost as you, if this was a normal day I'd be on the Triton, in the fight.”

“If you were on the Triton, you'd be dead.” Cavil intones gravely, and Faith's head jerks to look at him, a horrified look on her face.

“Triton is..” She trailed off, the memories of all her friends and fellow pilots on the Battlestar that she'd called home for the past two years.

“The Fleet Acadamy on Picon and the Naval yards were destroyed in the attack. It was on the wireless while you were unconscious.”

A tear trailed down the side of Faith's face as she turned away, barely keeping herself from falling back upon the bed in her grief. Instead, she steels her nerves and when she speaks, her voice holds a new determination.

“We head for Delphi, and pray that there are more survivors, and maybe someone with real rank.” She tells the priest. “As ranking officer, I am officially putting a suspension on your retirement Brother. Welcome back.”

“Well I'd say glad to be, but given everything..” He doesn't finish his sentiments, he doesn't need to. Faith knows, and gives a curt nod. “And if we run afoul of the cylons?”

“Then it's the same thing as the first Cylon war, fight em until we can't.” Faith says, her tone now filled with resolve.

“So say we all.”

 

~Occupation, Day Four~

Faith had taken a few minutes to discuss things further with Cavil, inquiring as to the supplies that they had and what they needed, especially anti-radiation meds, which thankfully Cavil replied that the police officer, one James Foley, had managed to grab a couple of emergency packs when he and his fiance, Ava Carver had stopped at the police station on the run and had been joined by the other two members of their party of six.

One was a nineteen year old brunette named Anna Frost, who had been planning to join the Academy in a month, though it was clear that was now nothing more than a shattered pipe-dream. None the less, with a look Faith could tell that the girl was a born fighter, and immediately started making plans in her head to get her and anyone else interested in fighting back the proper training.

The second was Bodie Stone, a professional card player that was being held for his own protection when it had been discovered that he'd cheated a local casino out of several hundred thousand cubits. He'd been the only one of the four in the station's clink that was deemed safe enough to bring with them, the others being freed from the cells and left to make their own way, without a word of the travel plans of the four that had been there.

They had stayed at the lodge for the duration of the first night and began the trek through the Chamele range early in the dawn hours of the following morning.

Three days passed and they'd reached the apex of the Vanez peak, where they'd set up camp for the night. Faith had ordered James and Ava to take the first watch as the group settled in, and within twenty minutes she'd fallen asleep.

She was shaken awake a few hours later by Anna, who had taken over the shift with Bodie, and takes in the perturbed expression on the face of her fellow brunette.

“Wha'zz the matter?” 'Nightshade' asks, her voice laced with sleepiness and she shakes her head in an attempt to clear it.

“I'm not entirely sure that there's a problem, but Bodie just radioed in from his patrol, he spotted a fire about a click and a half from here, on the decline toward Delphi.” Anna informs the ranking officer of the small resistance. “He got closer and ascertained that the people who made the fire at least look human.”

“Yeah well, you heard that last transmission on the wireless. The frakkers look like us now, and as we're only six strong, we can't afford to take any chances.” Faith replied as she pulled herself to her feet and took a look around their small camp, taking in the slumbering forms of Cavil, James and Ava. “Wake the others and arm up.” She commands decisively. “Radio Bodie and tell him to hold his position until we get there, and we'll see about meeting our neighbors together.”

Anna gave a nod and moved off to the other side of the camp where the others were laid up.

 

Twenty-five minutes or so later, Faith and the others reached Bodie's location, where he'd hidden himself amidst a rocky outcrop to keep from the view of the other people in the area.

“Over here.” He'd hissed out as they'd approached, motioning for them to stay low to the ground as they got close. Faith deftly made her way right up to where Bodie was crouched, and clambered down next to him.

“How many did you count?” She hisses out, taking the binoculars that are offered out and moving slightly to get a good vantage point for a look at the makers of the campfire about a hundred yards in the distance.

“At the least five, but it is late, and there could be more sleeping out of sight that I missed.” the dark-skinned man replies, his voice sounding a bit unsure.

Faith let out an annoyed grunt, and considered her options for a few moments. Finally she comes to a decision in her mind and turns toward where the other four are waiting and motions for James to come over.

“What's the situation?” The cop asks as he drops into a crouch next to Faith.

“I”m going in blind. If they shoot me down, run like hell.” Faith tells him. “That happens, take the others and head east for a day, then head down the decline of the next peak. It'll take an extra three days to get to Delphi, but if I'm gone you'll have enough supplies to make it down.”

Faith moved to enact her announced plan, ducking out from the outcropping and hurrying into the treeline before either of the two standing with her can stop her. 

Using the brush and trees as cover, she slowly makes her way around the potential enemies' camp to come up on them from the other direction.

When she was about thirty feet from the camp she decided to make her presence known, and ducks behind a thick tree trunk.

“Colonial officer coming out.” She called out in the direction of the camp, and as she listened to the small din it causes, trying to make out any specific voices and what was being said. “I won't shoot if you don't!”

She holds her firearm out in front of her, hanging loose from her grip in an attempt to appear as friendly as possible.

“Fine, come out.” A male voice calls out. “Try anything we don't like and we'll shoot though.”

“Fair enough!” Faith agrees and steps out from behind the tree and into the view of the people of the camp. A sweeping glance of the area ups Bodie's number to ten, with her call having served to awaken the second half of their entourage. 

“Are you with the cylons?!” a second man demands with anger, standing a few feet from the first speaker. Both have guns aimed at her and she shakes her head negatively.

“I already told you, I'm a Colonial Officer.” Faith rebuts, trying to keep her annoyance down.

“Well excuse me for being suspicious, but on the way up here we saw identical triplets with a bunch of the toasters, so how do we know you aren't working with them?!”

“I guess you don't but if I was, do you really think I would risk my ass to come here alone?” Faith countered, staring at the man who'd spoken first unblinking, as she was fairly certain that he was the leader apparent. For an odd reason, he seemed vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place it.

“Got a name?” a lithe redhead standing behind the supposed leader asks, garnering looks from several of the others.

“Lieutenant Faith Lehane, formerly of the Triton.” Faith introduces herself after a slight pause. “Can we put the guns down?”

The 'leader' gaves her a hard stare for a couple more moments, and then slowly lowers his weapon. To Faith's relief, the others follow by example, and she takes the opportunity to reholster her own service pistol.

“You said that you saw humans working with cylons, but you didn't. Your triplets aren't human..” Faith trails off for a moment, trying to choose her next words carefully to avoid her potential new allies from panicking. “The cylons look like us now.”

“Gods.” She hears the redhead mutter softly, in the midst of looking around at the faces of the survivors around her, looking both shocked and horrified.

“Yeah.” Faith gave a curt nod in agreement and turned her attention back on the apparent leader. “So you got my name, only fair you tell me yours?”

The man is silent for a few moments, a reluctant look coming over his face as he finally speaks again.

“Samuel T. Anders.” He gives up and Faith's eyes widen in interest.

“Oh this is too good.” She lets out a throaty chuckle, and another look around the group allows her to identify. “Godsdamn stuck on a dead planet it with a bunch of guys that make a living tossing a ball around.”

Anders stares at her silently for a few more moments and then lets out a low chuckle himself, and thats when the mood changes, all previous tension fleeing the group.

 

~Occupation, Day Nine~

Faith had an severe look on her face as she sat at the dining table in the room she'd claimed for herself in the abandoned school just outside the Delphi city limits. A council of Faith, James, Cavil, Anders and the redhead, who she'd learned was named Jean Barolay, had convened and they'd decided to make the school into the base of operations for the burgeoning army of guerilla fighters. Spread out over the table in front of her were a number of maps that she was poring over, marking off specific places within the city that they could raid without alerting the cylons to their presence in the area. There would be a time and place to make said presence felt, but they needed more time. Right now it was about scavaging supplies and food, and finding as many survivors as they could. The ragtag army still currently only numbering sixteen, between the two groups that had merged following Faith's stand off with the Caprica City Buccaneers Pyramid team.

She tears her gaze away from the maps at the sound of a knock on the entry door to her 'quarters', and her eyes fall upon the door in question.

“It's open!” She calls out as she rises from her chair, and waits for whoever it is to come in.

She gets her answer a moment later as Jean Barolay enters and closes the door behind her. For the briefest of moments, Faith is thrown for a loop at the happy expression on the redhead's face.

“What?” The former Viper pilot demands, her voice belaying her confusion as to what there was to possibly be happy about.

“Anna and Bodie just got back from that recon on the storage depot.” Barolay replies, her voice lighter than Faith had heard in the near week since they'd met.

“Great, but that doesn't explain your near giddiness.” Faith points out, still in the dark.

“Probably because they didn't come alone, they found more survivors.” The redhead informs her with a slight smile.

Faith felt her own spirits lifting with Barolay's words, and she stammers slightly as she tries to form a coherent response. “H-how many?”

“Didn't get an exact number, but upwards of seventy, according to Bodie.”

“Shit.” Faith cursed despite herself, as the realization of what would entail keeping close to a hundred people fed and sheltered.

“Sir?” Barolay inquires, her voice low and tensed in response to Faith's outburst.

“We're going to need to sort out the able fighters, and press heavily on raiding the local stores, sooner and more than we'd anticipated, got a lot more mouths to feed now.” Faith decides, and Barolay gives a slow nod after a moment. “Did you see Sam or Foley hanging around?” The commander of the resistance asks, and recieves another nod.

“Foley was watching the road with Rally and Morris Fink, they covered the rear as Bodie and Anna brought the new group in. I saw Sam coming up from the other direction with Sue-Shaun and the doc when I was coming to tell you.” Barolay answers, and Faith motions for her to follow as the former pilot strides out of her quarters and out the front doors where a decently sized crowd has formed.

Faith is speechless for a long, almost agonizing moment, her eyes taking in the new faces that were staring back at her, some filled with a renewed hope, but all with the same weariness. Her sweeping gaze pauses for a moment as one face in particular catches her attention, but she quickly continues her scan.

As she finishes her examination of the arrivals, she glances skyward for a brief moment and mutters a prayer to the Lords of Kobol that they could somehow get through the days ahead. Lowering her eyes to ground level, she bursts into a stride towards the truck that one of the C-bucs had brought back from a raid on a farm a few miles to the west. She climbs up onto the back of the flatbed and her gaze once more falls upon the crowd. She stands silently for a moment before finally opening her mouth to speak.

“We thought that we were safe, that the Colonial Fleet would always be around to protect us from any threat, be it cylon or human. Nine days ago we discovered just how wrong our assumptions were. Nine days ago, the fleet which we have come to rely so hard upon, was obliterated with the barest of effort on the part of our enemies. Our greatest fears have been more than surpassed.” She pauses for a moment, feeling her resolve waver slightly, but pushes her nerves down and plows on. “The Cylons have come back, and now they look like us. I don't know what the future holds, and I'm not going to pretend that I have all the answers, but I swear to you on the eternal souls of my ancestors that I will do my damnedest to get us through this.”

Faith pauses once again, turning to give Barolay a quick look, and a moment later the redhead gives her nod that belays assurance. 

“My name is Faith Lehane. I am, or rather was a Lieutenant serving on the Battlestar Triton. I stand before you all today and I beg forgiveness. Forgiveness for the lack of a proper response by the Colonial Army before it was too late. We've all suffered unbearable loss, and will no doubt suffer more. But we can not allow our grief to control our fate, if we do then the Cylon's victory will have been total and our race will fade from memory. This WILL NOT STAND!” She pauses for a couple seconds and then continues. “We fight back, until our last man breathes his last breath. We will not give up, and we will NEVER accept defeat!”

Seeing that the crowd has nearly worked themselves into a frenzy, she throws out one final exclamation and cheers echo off the side of the abandoned school behind where she was standing in the truck bed.

“Welcome to the Resistance!” She yells out, and raises her clenched fist skyward. The assembled group roars in approval and many more fists shoot up to mirror Faith's proclamation.

Nightshade remained standing there for a few long moments with her fist raised before she finally drops it and turns to hop off the truck. As soon as her feet hit ground again she makes her way back to where she'd left Barolay standing, finding that Anders, Foley, Ava and Brother Cavil have joined her.

“Sam, I need you to have the C-Buc's get these people settled, the auditorium should be big enough for a temporary refuge.” Faith requests, her eyes meeting the Pyramid star, who gives a quick nod. Faith glances back at the crowd for a moment, her eyes seeking out the face of interest from earlier, she wanted to be completely sure.

With a second look, she's convinced and turns back to the others. “Foley, Ava. I need you to stay with the tall blonde woman with the singed red shirt, don't let her out of your sight.”

“Why?” Ava asks from where she was standing next to her now husband, who Cavil had joined in a short ceremony two days prior when they'd gotten clear of the mountains.

Faith is silent for a moment, her eyes conflicted. “Because she's a dead-ringer for the bitch that helped blow up my viper and ordered the godsdamn cylons to shoot me on the first day. Bitch is one of 'em.” 

She pauses briefly as she considers their options. “Forget watching her. While the C-bucs are getting everyone else inside to get settled, I'm going to take her out into the woods and shoot her in the head.”

~~~~~~~~~

To Be Continued....  
2\. Occupation, Parts 2-3

Occupation, Part II

~Day Fifteen~

They'd suffered their first casualty that morning. Bodie and Ten-Point had nearly been killed as well, trying to get to the boy's side and help him to safety. In the end, they'd been forced to leave the body and retreat.

His name had been Glen Nepheilm, and he was barely twenty, having celebrated two decades less than a week before the Cylon attack. In a way, Faith was a bit envious, he'd been the only one of his family to survive and now he was reunited with them. They weren't all that different, her family was all dead as well, she'd been all that remained of hers for five years.

It was her occupation that had saved her life, ironic given the risks that viper pilots took on a daily basis. Her grandfather had organized a family reunion aboard the luxury class ship Cosma, and she'd been on her way to join them when she'd been delayed to wait for her viper to be repaired from a training mishap. If she'd been on time, she'd have died with the rest of them. 

Through a series of inquiries, it had been deduced that a group of terrorists had snuck a nuclear warhead on-board, intending to hold the ship hostage until certain demands were met. Only something went wrong with the device, and it had blown up just after the initial demands were made. Half the ship was blown apart by the force of the blast, and anyone who'd survived the fire was sucked out into the vacuum of space. The Lehane family had been among the ones that died cold.

Following the tragedy, she threw herself headlong into her job and within two years she was second only to the CAG as far as the pilots serving on Triton. If she'd made it though another year, the position of CAG would have been hers as Major Valchek was planning to retire and take a job at the Academy on Picon.

But Valchek was dead now, along with everyone else that had been aboard the Triton, she reminded herself as a tear rolld down the side of her face. Colonel Brand, her commanding officer; Eric 'Balrog' Bellinger and Crystal 'Shards' Kelso, her best friends and fellow pilots; her sometimes lover Erica McHale, who was also communication officer on the Triton. They were all gone now, killed mercilessly by the Cylons. She wished more than anything that she'd just died with them, maybe even in her viper.

Instead, her viper was a burned out pile of scrap on the other side of the mountains and she was stuck playing commander for the remnants of humanity. She didn't have the option of killing herself, to join her lost family and friends, not with so many people counting on her to lead them through the hard times that lay ahead of them.

Shaking her head to clear it, she looks up at the night sky above her and pulls out one of the packs of cigarettes that had been in the half full carton she'd discovered in the back of the closet in what had been the vice-principal's office. She takes one out and presses it between her lips, then lights the tip with the mini-blowtorch attached to her keyring. 

“Lieutenant?” Faith's gaze falls and she turns to face Cavil as he comes up from behind, coming from the resistance camp.

“What do you need Brother?” She asks, turning away again to gaze skyward.

“Thought you might need to talk, I saw the look on your face when you stormed out of the camp.” The priest tells her, and she shakes her head in disbelief.

“What, like a confession?” She scoffs, turning her eyes back to Cavil as she turns to face him fully. “No offence Brother, but anything I might have believed in died the day that my second family did. Honestly, I don't see how anyone can believe anymore.”

“God works in mysterious ways, there is a reason why we survived. You, Me, Anders, Barolay, the rest of them.”

“Spare me, at best it's luck. Bad luck, admittedly, instead of dying quick with everyone else we're the ones who get to remember and fade slow.” Faith snarls. “I'm a fraking pilot, I'm not meant to die on the ground. I should have died in the air on day one, I'm not good at anything else, and I don't think I can do this. I am not a leader.”

“Power is best in the hands of those who don't seek it.” She rolls her eyes at the quote, and takes a deep drag off the cigarette.

“Look, just leave me be okay?” Faith requests, meeting the priest's eyes with her own. “I'm not giving up on my promise to these people, I just need some time to think. I'll come back up to the camp in a hour or so.”

“Very well.” Cavil nods respectively and turns to return the way that he'd come from. Faith watches him go with a depressed look on her face, before she turns it skyward once again. She keeps her eyes locked in the same spot as she finishes off the rest of her cigarette.

~~~~~~~~~

~Day Eighty-Four~

It had been about a week since the ambush and Faith was overseeing the offloading of the supplies they'd recovered from the military depot about forty clicks to the north. She turns as Anders' truck pulls to a stop a few yards from where she's standing and as he and the other C-bucs disembark, along with two people she didn't recognize.

She tenses slightly, but relaxes as she picks up on the conversation that Anders is having with the small blonde woman. 

“Nah, just us. The rest are hikers, survivalists mostly, couple former police and a former Triton viper pilot.” She hears Sam explaining to the woman.

“You have a Colonial Officer here?!” Faith winces at the shrill tone that the blonde uses in her reply. 

“That'd be me.” Faith finds herself saying before she can stop herself, and gives a wary nod as she quickly becomes the center of attention of both the blonde and her companion, who with a closer look now seem somewhat familiar to her.

“Faith Lehane?” Faith's mouth drops open at the recognition from the blonde's companion. Her hand grips the handle of her gun but she doesnt unholster it. She takes a long look at the man, and then she finally recognizing the man as Karl Agathon.

“Karl?” She inquires, wanting to be sure, and gives a small smile as he nods.

“Okay, I'm lost.” The blonde remarks, her gaze shifting between Anders, Karl and Faith.

“We started out in the same basic flight class.” Karl explains to his friend. “Kara Thrace, meet Faith Lehane.”

“Pleasure.” Faith gives a respectful nod to Starbuck, the blonde's reputation as a pilot having spread amongst the fleet over the past few years.

“So how'd you survive the attack? Is your viper still flight-capable?” Kara more-or-less demands, and Faith throws her a wistful look. 

“I was on leave, and staying at a retreat on the other side of the mountains. My viper got destroyed before I could get to it, ended up having to dive off a cliff to keep from being shot to death.” Faith replies, her voice a bit forced.

“What a coincidence, lucky you.” Kara can barely hold in scorn.

“Frak you.” Faith snarls, not visibly agitated. “If you want to say something here, say it.”

Faith's eyes flicker away from Kara to take a quick glance between Karl and Anders, and she sees Bodie and Barolay watching from just outside the entrance to the school. The blonde doesn't speak, but she doesn't have to. Faith knows what the question is.

“Anders, we've shot up how many of the skinjobs?” Nightshade questions, her voice strained. 

Anders is silent for a couple seconds before he replies. “I don't know... three-fifty, four hundred maybe?”

“Anyone seen a toaster that looked like me?” She questions loudly, garnering looks from more than a few of the people around them. No one answers the question and there are more than a few angry looks directed at Kara.

“Faith, she's not accusing you of being a Cylon, we're just on edge cause someone we knew and trusted was recently revealed to be one of them herself.” Karl spends the next couple minutes explaining about Boomer.

“I'm sorry that you were decieved by a skinjob, that sucks, but I am not one of them.” Faith says to Karl and Kara, mostly to the latter who is clearly the one who needs convincing. She is silent for a moment as she glares at Kara, then turns to Anders. “Get them settled, I'll be in the mess if you need me.”

She turns away from the three and makes her way over to the entrance into the school, passing Bodie and Barolay as she goes, and gives both a nod as she passes and disappears inside the building. 

Barolay watches Faith disappear inside and turns to give Kara an angry look but the blonde has already turned away and is speaking with Anders. The redhead shakes her head in disgust, and follows Faith inside, Bodie trailing after a moment later.

 

~Day Eighty-Five~

She'd had misgivings on the plan from the start, but had caved into the idea that Kara might fly the heavy raider back to wherever this fleet of hers was and come back with a rescue party. They couldn't keep fighting forever, and she was well aware of that when she'd agreed to go along with it.

As she ran through the woods, taking care not to knock into any of the others fleeing the transports that were under fire, they would lose enough without any accidental assists. She lets out a gasp as a bullet impacts into a tree, just a few inches from her head and throws herself down behind a large rock jutting up out of the ground for cover.

She'd seen Kara get hit amidst all the chaos, and was too far from her at that point that playing hero would only end with both of them dead or captured. Knox, Devlin and Melanie had all fallen as well, she'd seen as much with a look back mid-flight.

Her gun is up and aimed at Karl in one fluid motion as he drops down next to her, his own gun up and ready. She lets her aim drop and gives him a curt nod.

“Thrace got hit, few of my people as well.” She informs the Galactica pilot, who gives a grave nod in response. She holds his gaze for a long moment and then turns and peeks around the edge of the rock. 

“They're leaving.” She says incredulously, ducking her head back behind the safety of the rock.

Helo gives a shrug in response. “Could be a trick.”

“Probably, but why bother? It'd be much easier for them to just chase us down.” She chances another look around the side of the rock, and watches as one of the Centurions crouches down to pick up a body that had fallen trying to flee. 

“Frak.” She curses as she recognizes the fallen woman as Sue-Shaun. “Anders is gonna be pissed.”

~~~~~~~

It took a couple of hours to regroup the resistance members who hadn't been shot during the flight through the woods, and they were currently making their way back to where the transports had been left. In total eight men were dead, and both Sue-Shaun and Melanie were among the four missing women that had fallen behind or gotten shot.

She came to a stop next to the trunk of the lead transport and reached up with her right hand to wipe the sweat off her face, listening to Karl and Anders argue as they came up to the transports.

A sudden crackling in the leaves draws her attention at the same time as Anders and Karl hear it, and all three of them aim their guns in the direction the sound originated from.

“I know where Starbuck is.” A female voice calls out, and then the speaker steps out from behind a thick tree, hands held up to show both surrender and the fact that she wasn't armed.

“Sharon?” Faith turns to face Karl as he speaks.

“You know her?” She hears Anders ask, and Karl gives a nod.

“She's with us.” Faith doesn't much like the tone Karl utilized, as it belays the barest hint of doubt.

“What about the others? Sue-Shaun, Melanie, Lita?” the former Triton officer questions. “They took their bodies, why?”

A grave expression comes over Sharon's face as her eyes flicker to where Faith is standing, and she takes a moment before she speaks.

“You're really not going to like the answer to that.”

 

~Day Eighty-Eight~

It had taken three days to get everyone properly prepped for the assault on what Sharon had called a 'farm', located in an old mental institution. Faith chuckled as she thought about the irony of it all. Three months on the run, utter chaos and they were preparing to storm the literal madhouse. Twenty would be going on the assault, among them herself, Karl, Anders, James, Bodie, and the C-Bucs. 

Both Barolay and Anna had made cases to be included, but Faith had refused to risk them being captured and made to be a human incubator for whatever monstrosity that the cylons were impregnating the captured women with. In the end, Anders and Ava had helped to talk sense into the pair.

“Just come back.” had been Barolay's parting words to Faith, and she'd not been able to focus completely for the majority of the ride to the dead-end drive about a click and a half from where the farm was located. They'd parked the vehicles and armed up before beginning the trek through the woods.

Faith, Sam and Karl had led the way to the edge of the clearing that surrounded the building that Sharon told them Kara and the others were being held at. Faith held up an arm as the group came to a stop at the tree-line, and she turned to Karl. 

“Your friend is cutting it awfully close.” She tells the Raptor ECO, who gives her a hard look in response.

“She'll be here, don't worry about it.”

“Hope so.” She replies and then turns to address the rest of the assault and rescue team. “Okay people, twenty seconds and we move.”

She began to count down in her head, keeping half an eye on her watch. With about seven seconds to go, her attention is drawn to James as he speaks.

“Someone just ran out!” He calls over, and Faith curses.

“Okay, now!” She doesn't bother with the last couple seconds before leading the charge into the clearing, firing her automatic rifle at the black man in a suit that has blocked Kara from escape. To her left, Rally has come to a stop and also fired into the suit, who crashes to the ground dead and bleeding from a number of holes in his chest.

“Good shooting.” She compliments the former Pyramid player with a small grin, and recieves a nod back.

She turns as Karl and Anders rush past her, yelling at Kara to hurry and get as far as she could from the building and she saw the blonde comply as best she could, dragging herself across the field and clearly suffering from a wound at her midsection that Faith surmised was only partially healed at best.

She let out an angry roar as several of the hulking Centurions came lumbering out from the sides of the building and began to fire in the direction that Kara was fleeing towards them.

“Get down!” She hears someone scream at the blonde, who throws herself into the dirt as fire opens up on both sides.

The bullets coming from the guns of the resistance serve to do little more than slow the advance of the killer robots, and for a couple minutes it seems they've found themselves in a stand-off with Kara tied down in the middle of the battlezone.

Relief comes for the Resistance as a relatively small gunship clears the trees and opens fire upon the metal assassins, destroying all four in a few short moments. She kept her rifle up and aimed as Karl and Sam sprint across the distance that seperates them from the blonde. 

Thankfully there's not much need for her to fire as Karl and Sam reach Kara with little trouble, and haul the woman to her feet before all three begin to stagger back towards where the main group is gathered.

Faith falls into step about the middle of the group, Bodie and Rally on either side as they hurry to the rendevous with the gunship that Karl's cylon friend was flying. They found her and the ship just over the hill to the east, and had all boarded quickly with Sharon yelling for them to pick up the pace.

Faith watched as the doors pulled up and shut once everyone was on board, and pressed her open hand against the wall to brace herself as the ship lifts off and almost bucks her off her feet. Pulling herself upright, her eyes scan the hold and catch Kara's. This time, the blonde gives her a nod with sincere respect behind it, and Faith finds she has no reason to not return the gesture and gives a nod back. 

She watches for a couple more moments as Kara turns away and begins to flirt with Anders. She wasn't all that surprised, and definitely wasn't bothered by it. She'd come to a realization of her own as she'd been firing at the suit earlier and intended to act on something she should have caught onto weeks ago.

~~~~~~~

Sharon had touched the gunship down a few yards from where they'd parked the transport vehicles, and the group quickly disembarked the ship. Faith had claimed the passenger seat of the front car with Bodie driving, and the ride back was uneventful. She'd instructed Sam to take care of the doc as soon as they reached their base, having identified Kara's stalker as a copy of the man who'd lived with them for months. In the C-Buc's case it was even longer, and she'd let them sort it out.

The car had barely come to a stop as Faith jumped out and dashed off into the high school almost before anyone else had time to even get out. She found Barolay in the 'quarters' that she shared, or rather had shared with Sue-Shaun, thankfully the redhead was alone. She didn't want an audience.

Faith held up a finger to silence Jean as she opened her mouth to speak, and the redhead complied, waiting as Faith closed the door and locked it.

She turns back to face Barolay when she's made sure that no one could interrupt them, and with little thought, finds herself striding across the distance between the two women. Faith stops a couple feet in front of the shorter woman, and slowly reaches up with her right hand stopping when the side of Barolay's face is cradled in her palm. A small smile forms on her face as she feels Jean lean into the embrace, and with hunger in her eyes she pulls Barolay's face toward her to capture the lithe woman's lips with her own.

Barolay reciprocates eagerly, and within a couple moments, their tongues are locked into a vicious duel as each vies for dominance. Faith wins evenutally.

Several minutes pass as the two women explore eachother, and finally they break apart, each looking flushed.

“Wow.” Faith hears Barolay whisper almost inaudibly. “I've been waiting a while for that.”

Faith stares at Barolay for a few moments and then bursts into laughter, waving off the look of indignation on the redhead's face by capturing her lips again.

~~~~~~~

~Day Eighty-Nine~

“How long do you think it will take you to catch up with your fleet?” Faith asked Kara as the two women stood in front of the Cylon raider that the blonde was going to fly off the planet with Karl and Sharon.

Kara gave a small shrug in response, casting a glance over at the brunette pilot. 

“Well provided they haven't left Kobol, maybe a day.” The blonde replies, as she pulls out a cigar tin, offering one out to Faith, who takes it with a nod of thanks. “We do have room for one more and there is a shortage on experienced pilots in the fleet.”

Faith shakes her head. “No, until you can get us all out of this hellhole, then my place is here.”

Kara gives her a nod of understanding, having known what her answer was going to be before she'd even asked the question.

“Since you offered though, we should send a representative to help validate the need for a rescue op.” Faith added a moment later, a smile creeping onto her face.

When Kara took off with the Raider later that night, Anna Frost went with her. It would be the last time more than half of what remained of the Resistance would ever see the nineteen year old again.

~~~~~~~~

~Day One Hundred~

“They aren't coming back, are they?” Faith looked over as one of the children in the camp came over to where she was sitting on a metal crate overlooking the small campfire. It took Faith a couple seconds to remember that the sandy-haired twelve year old's name was Derek. He'd been among the seventy that Bodie and Anna had found on the ninth day, and sad to say at that point he hadn't been an orphan. His father, Tomas had been killed about four weeks earlier, in the ambush the cylons had sprung on them. He'd been living with James and Ava since.

“I honestly don't know Derek, but I know that Anna is doing her best to get us help, not to mention Kara, Karl and Sharon. Don't give up hope buddy, okay?” She gives the kid a smile as he nods hesitantly.

“Uhm, Brother Cavil was looking for you back at the camp, he said since we'd made it a hundred days that it would raise morale... whatever that means, if we did something to mark the day.” Derek tells her.

“Of course he would.” Faith shakes her head, but rises from the crate and motions for the pre-teen to lead the way back into camp.

She sends Derek off to find his adopted parents when they reach the center and watches him go for a moment before heading off to the other end of the building where Cavil's quarters were located, rather than going through the building to get there.

She finds the aging priest standing outside the side door, having a talk with Anders. She stops in the middle of the road and waits until it seems their conversation is over and Sam starts toward her. She meets him midway, stopping again when they're a few feet from one another.

“Ten-Point and Crip-key found another farm.” Sam intones, his voice low.

“Where?” Faith asks him, casting a glance at Cavil before settling on Sam.

“Other side of Delphi, it's maybe ten clicks from here. If we can get in the sewers under the building it's in and plant explosives in the right places, we can remote detonate and be halfway back here before the toasters even know what happened.” Anders pitches his idea, and Faith gives him a slow nod after a moment of consideration.

“How many do you want on this op, and who?” She questions, and Sam is silent for a moment before answering. 

“Me, You, Rally, Jo-Man, Jean and Bodie in the sewers planting the explosives, and Foley and the rest of the remaining C-Bucs providing cover fire if needed during our retreat.” Anders lines out his plan. “We move in quick, get the job done, in and out in twenty minutes tops.”

“Alright.” Faith agrees. “We'll move in tommorrow night, use the shadows to our advantage. Anything else you needed?”

Anders shakes his head in the negative, and Faith turns to leave but stops for a moment to look back at her fellow Resistance leader.

“Kara's coming back Sam. She gave her word, we just gotta believe it counts for something.” Faith says, wishing her tone had more confidence than she honestly felt about their chance of rescue.

She catches his nod before turning and making her way over to where Cavil is standing, obviously still waiting to speak with her.

“Derek said you were looking to talk to me about something?” She inquires as she steps up to the priest and stops a couple feet from him.

“I was thinking as we've made it a hundred days, we should commemorate the occasion with perhaps a celebration, it would boost-” The priest starts but Faaith interrupts him.

“No.” She says shortly, not leaving much room for a rebuttal. “I appreciate the sentiments, but a celebration of any sort is the last thing we need right now. It would instill a certain laxness, maybe even leading to complacency among us and we all need to be on guard and alert. When we get to Galactica we can celebrate our survival, no sooner than that.”

Cavil gives her a nod of consent, although looking slightly unhappy with her decision. If he had any serious problems with it, he kept it to himself. She bade him good night after a moment or two more and pushed her way through the entrance to the high school, heading right to the quarters that she now shared with Jean. The redhead had been all-too-happy to accept her invitation to move in with her, the memory of Sue-Shaun hanging heavy over her former quarters. 

As she entered the room to find her lover already asleep in the bed they shared, she found that while the worlds had gone to hell and there was little chance that she'd ever have cause to celebrate again, she had a small shred of happiness from being with Jean. With things how they were, she intended to hold on to that feeling for as long as the Lords of Kobol would allow it. Some days, it was the only thing that kept her going.”

 

~~~~~~~~~

~Day One Hundred and Forty-Four~

“How much longer?” Faith hissed as she dropped down into a crouch next to Sam as he worked to rig up the explosives to the cement support pillar in the parking garage.

“Just about done, just gonna need one of your cigarettes, lit preferably.” her fellow resistance leader replies with a smirk. Faith takes a final drag off the half smoked cigarette and then hands it over to Sam, who cinches a clothespin over the slightly wet end. 

“Done, let's get the frak out of here.” Anders announces and Faith gives an eager nod, the sooner they got out of the complex the better.

She starts to move towards the exit, but stops short as a metallic thump echoes lightly through the garage.

“Did you hear that?” She whispers urgently as her eyes snap to Sam, and he gives a curt nod. Another follows the first and her eyes widen in realization “Go, behind the car. They're coming.”

Anders nods again and they both duck behind the car that Nightshade had motioned towards. They keep crouched down out of sight as the metallic thumps continue, getting closer with each passing second.

“If we don't get out of here before that cigarette falls loose, we're both frakked.” Sam intones lowly, and Faith gives him a brief look before shifting to peek through the car to watch as the Centurion lumbers through the lot, heading right for the explosives. “Frak.” She hears Sam mutter.

“Fire on three.” She whispers and counts down on her hand.

At the cue, both of them pop up from behind the car and open fire on the Centurion, knocking it off it's feet before their clips run dry.

Faith has the magazine ejected and is in the process of loading another when the bomb goes up and her vision goes dark.

~~~~~~~~~

She wakes up with a loud ringing in both ears and winces as she blinks open her eyes. Her vision is hazy and wheen she lifts a shaky hand to her forehead, she can see the red on her fingers despite the fuzziness.

“The woman is awake.” She hears a female voice announce from somewhere in the area, and her gaze moves around as she tries to pick out the speaker amidst the shapes and shadows of the rubble all around.

“Faith.” She felt a warm hand grab her bicep, and turns to face Sam, having spent enough time with him to recognise his voice out of a group of people.

“W-what happened?” She asks, still a bit disoriented.

“You got caught up in the blast of your own bomb, stupid human.” The same female voice remarks, her tone clearly mocking.

Faith hands shakily reach for her gun, but she finds it missing. “Frak.” She curses under her breath, but is relieved as her vision finally begins to clear.

“Ha!” the voice says again, and this time when Faith turns to look at the other woman, a snarl comes over her face as she recognises the face of the woman who'd both had her metal minions shoot her, and had tried to infiltrate their group. If they all went by the same moniker, this one's name was D'Anna. The worst thing was that the blonde held both hers and Sam's guns. “See what I mean? Humans will always resort to violence first.”

It's then that Faith catches sight of Sharon and the other blonde Cylon sitting behind and across from D'Anna.

“Why are we still alive?” She asks as she drags herself closer to where Sam is slumped against the car.

“You can thank these two for that. I'd have just put a bullet in each of your heads and've been done with it.” D'Anna says and then Faith's gaze shoots upward as the structure rumbles and dust falls from cracks in the ceiling. “You hear that? They're coming for us, and for you. They're gonna be very interested in you too.”

Both Faith and Sam's gazes falls to D'Anna as she speaks, and looking down further she sees one of the guns in the dirt between where she and Sam are laid out, and D'Anna herself, although much closer to the latter.

“Leave them alone.” Faith's eyes snap to the copy of Sharon, taken aback by the tone in the Cylon's voice. To Faith, it sounded like the dark haired toaster had quite a bit of self-loathing in her.

“Sharon.” Faith's eyes flicker back to D'Anna as the blonde speaks again, this time addressing her fellow rather than either of the resistance leaders. “You're a hero of the cylon... Now you're just a broken machine who thinks she's human.”

“She seems more human than you bitch.” Faith sneers, not ever one to play meek, even as a prisoner.

D'Anna fixed her with a icy look before moving over to crouch in front of Sharon, who looked up to meet the blonde's eyes with a look of scorn.

“But you're not human Sharon, and you never will be.” 

“At least I'm not a murderer.” Boomer shot back, her eyes blazing. Faith looked on with interest at the clear unrest among the Cylon ranks, even if it ended with the two Sharons she'd met in the last six months. “I have a conscience. And I know the difference between right and wrong.”

“A murderer.. is exactly what you are.” D'Anna retorts and Boomer falls silent for a moment before rising to her feet and walking away from the blonde.

Another rumbling boom shakes the garage and Faith gives a worried glance upward.

“They're nearly here.” She hears D'Anna inform with a slight laugh. Fraking toaster was probably fantasizing all the different way she could torture Sam and Faith herself for whatever information she thought she'd be able to force out of them. Faith eyes fall to the gun on the floor with a wistful look, if she could only get closer she could grab it and end her life before the cylons got hold of her.

Her opportunity comes as the other blonde cylon speaks up, drawing the attention of everyone else in the collapsed garage.

“We're dangerous.” she said abruptly, staring right at D'Anna, who looks perplexed at the other blonde's proclamation.

“What?” the Three inquires, her tone belaying confusion, but Faith can tell it's forced. D'Anna knows exactly what the other blonde is talking about, even with as little as she's said.

“Sharon and I.” The second blonde continues, her voice a bit shaky at first, but it strengthens as she plows on. “We're celebrities in a culture based on unity.”

“No.” D'Anna disagrees, but the six turns away to face Sharon.

“Our voices count. More than hers, and more than others.” the six tells Boomer before turning back to D'Anna to throw the three's words to Sharon back in her face. “We're two heroes of the cylons, right? Two heroes with two different perspectives on the war. Perspectives based on our love of two human beings.”

D'Anna rises to her full hit and walks closer to where the six is sitting, and Faith seizes the opportunity to begin a slow crawl across the floor to where the gun lays.

“That's why she wanted me to work with you, so that you'd tell me that Gaius was still alive.” The six continues and Faith kinda wished she could see the look on D'Anna's face as the six turned her eyes back to Boomer. “And she wanted me to lose my mind.”

Both the six and Boomer turn almost as one to face D'Anna, and Faith edges closer to the gun with the assurance that the three is sufficiently distracted.

“No. You've been corrupted by your experiences.” The three tries to continue her lies. “You're a waste.”

“Genocide, murder, vengeance. They're all sins in the eyes of God.” The six says, her voice once again a bit shaky, but Faith supposes it's more due to the woman's untreated and dirtied wounds than a sudden lack of the passion her words had held only a few moments before. The six's gaze shifts from D'Anna to Boomer. “That's what you and I know. What they don't want to hear.”

Boomer eyes the six for a brief moment and then her gaze falls to Faith for a moment, and the two lock eyes for half a second before the cylon's eyes continue up to D'Anna.

“Because then they'd have to rethink what they're doing.” Boomer voices her own realizations, and her voice rises with each word as the six's had earlier. “They'd have to consider that maybe the slaughter of mankind was a mistake!”

Faith grabs the gun and starts to rise but is hit with a piece of rock that comes free from the ceiling, knocking her forward with the impact of it against the back of her head. She trips a bit as she falls and the gun skitters across the floor.

“Frak!” She yells as she hits the floor and the disorientation she'd felt upon waking up before returns. She raises her head to see Sam make a move for the gun, grabbing it up and managing to get a couple shots off before he's tackled by the Sharon and the gun goes flying again.

D'Anna gets ahold of it, and her aim flickers between Faith and Sam, as if she can't decide who to kill first. Faith shakily rises up into a crouch with the palms of her hands pressed into the dirt, and she hears D'Anna speak again as the gun comes around to aim at her head.

“God loves me.” Faith closes her eyes as the barrel of the gun levels with her forehead and waits for death to come.

Instead she hears a thunk and a thud, and opens her eyes to find the six standing over the fallen D'Anna with a large rock held over head, and then hefts it off to her side.

She watches Boomer grab the gun from the now dead copy of D'Anna and then feels Sam's hands on her shoulder as he helps her to her feet. She leans shakily against him with the sudden motion.

“I think I'm a bit concussed.” Faith complained, praying that the multiple blows to the head that she'd received in the past couple hours didn't leave permanent damage.

Another rumble echoes overhead and this time they all cast worried glances upward.

“Looks like they're almost here.” Boomer remarks, her voice tense.

Faith and Sam watch the six give a short nod before speaking as well. “You two should get out of here while you still can. The fresh air coming in might lead you out.”

Both the resistance leaders share a wary look between them before Sam speaks for both of them. “Is this some kind of trick?”

“You can stay and be tortured if you like.” Faith blanches as the blonde names the alternative. “Your call.”

“No thanks, I'm good. Damn sure ain't gonna end up at one of those farms of yours.” Nightshade starts to move in the direction that the draft is coming from, turning after a few feet to see Boomer hand Kara's tags back to Sam, who swings his arm out after a moment to grab them. 

Faith turns away again as Sam moves to follow her, and as she looks around a broken slab of concrete she can see sunlight through a hole in the bottom of the wall.

“Wait!” Sharon calls out as Sam joins her at the hole, and tosses the guns that each had lost to them.

Faith throws a piercing look at Sharon for a long moment before giving a short nod to belay her gratitude. The former pilot finally turns away and as Sam motions for her to go through first, she complies and falls to her knees before pushing her body through the opening.

A few moments later, she drops out onto the grass outside and quickly rises to her feet. Her gun comes out and up as she scans the area, providing cover until Sam joins her outside. The pair of them don't stop running the entire click and a half back to the truck.

 

~~~~~~~~~

~Day One Hundred and Seventy-One~

“INCOMING!” Faith's head snapped in the direction of Rally's scream, and has time to widen her eyes before an explosion takes out the guard tower that they'd erected atop the school about two weeks following Kara, Karl, Sharon and Anna's departure to catch up with the fleet. 

She barely keeps from being blown off her feet, still getting knocked back a few feet. She catches herself and halts her backward movement, just in time for Rally's smoldering remains to hit the ground to her left.

“Frak! Everybody into the forest!” She screams, gesturing wildly towards the woods that bordered their camp, knowing it would be hardest for the Cylons to follow with the rocky landscape and the hills past that.

She watches as dozens of people surge from various locations in the camp, and converge on the woods in a sprint. She moves to run herself, but a groan from a few yards off grabs her attention and she turns to see Jo-Man laying on the ground, bleeding from a wound that was caused by a piece of shrapnel, which is still sticking out of his upper chest, half embedded in his shoulder. 

Making a split decision, she changes her course and hurries over to where Jo-Man is laying, quickly helping to drag the injured man to his feet, despite his protests to leave him.

“Frak that Jo, I sure as hell don't want to explain to Sam that two of his friends died today.” Faith shook her head, and began to drag Jo-Man with her. 

He resists for only a moment more and then throws his weight into his movements, allowing them to half-run to the woods. They make it to about ten feet from the treeline when a shot rings out and Jo-Man pitches facefirst onto the ground.

In less than four seconds, Faith has whirled around and whipped out her pistol, emptying half a clip into the copy of the Doc that was standing about twenty-five yards away. A glance from the fallen cylon to Jo tells her that both are dead. She reaches out with her right hand and closes Jo's eyes before rising back to her feet.

Not having the time to mourn the dead, she turns and runs after the others, quickly disappearing into the foliage.

~~~~~~~~~

She catches up with the survivors of the attack on the camp about three clicks away, and a tear springs to her eyes as she counts only twenty-nine of the sixty-one who'd been alive at the camp that morning. Crip-Key was missing, though no one had seen him get hit, and Bodie was being carried between James and Ava, having caught a bullet in the guts from one of the Centurions while he'd fled through the woods.

They had only stopped moving for a couple minutes, and resumed their trek through the woods, changing direction to head south, intending to take advantage of Kara's advice to Sam from what seemed like a lifetime ago. It was late summer by now, and the climate of the mountains would be habitable even camping in tents, for at least two more months.

They had circled around the perimeter of the base, and were about halfway to the start of the mountain trail when Sam called out for everyone to take cover on the ground suddenly from where he was in the lead of the group.

Faith dropped low until she was half-crouched and crawling to the front, coming to a stop and laying out on her stomach next to where Sam and Jean are in the same position.

“What is it?” She questions, not having had a good view when Sam had called out, and not seeing anything ahead of them.

“Saw someone drop down behind one of those fallen trees up ahead.” Sam informs her, nodding his head in the direction of the mostly collapsed stone structure about sixty yards ahead, a number of fallen trees in between. Her gaze shifts through the surrounding area, trying to pick up on any movement amongst the foliage.

“Is there a Samuel T. Anders or a Faith Lehane there?” suddenly echoes out across the woods, and the two inquired about people share a look of shocked disbelief.

Jean rolls her eyes at the suddenly lacking-for-words Resistance leaders and decides to take matters into her own hands. “Is there a Kara Thrace over there?!” the redhead calls back across the expanse.

Sam gives Jean a brief glance, and then adds his own sentiments. “If there is, she took her damn sweet time getting here!”

“Too true.” Faith mutters as she thinks back on all the people who hadn't made it. She watches as a few dozen battle-ready soldiers rise up from behind one of the larger trees. She picks herself up as the others do the same around her and a few moments later she is walking side by side with Jean as Sam leads the group to meet Kara's in the middle.

As the two groups converge, Faith recognizes Karl and moves up to him, wrapping him in a firm hug.

“Good to see you again Helo.” She greets with a smile when she backs away a moment after. He gives her a smile and nod back, and she gives Sharon a polite nod as well, still not quite able to trust the confirmed cylon.

Turning away as she hears Jean's exclamation that the cylons were still chasing them, and they needed to keep moving, she can't help but agree. Her gaze catches Sam and Kara pulling apart and then all hell breaks loose.

“Incoming!” one of the soldiers that had come with the rescue party suddenly screams and a moment later a flash of bright light fills the rear left of the group as the mortar hits the ground and explodes, killing at least three of the converged group.

“Run!” She finds herself screaming, and then sees Sam pointing out the higher ground. She takes the sudden movement of the people around her as her cue to go, and grabs Jean's hand. The two women share a brief look and then take off running side by side.

They make it as far as the ruins of the silo, diving behind it for cover as the gunfire from the cylons for a few minutes longer, then they finally go silent. No one speaks for a long moment, and then Ava speaks up from where she's huddled next to James, both hugging the interior west wall.

“A-are they gone?”

~~~~~~~~~

It had been hours since the gunfire had stopped, yet they still hadn't moved from the stone ruins the cylons had them pinned down in. Faith could hear the birds chirping in the trees above, the cylons around them having been silent for quite some time.

She stifles a yawn with the sleeve of her jacket, and looks down to Barolay's slumbering form, half leaned against her shoulder. She smiles down at the redhead for a moment, then her gaze catches Helo's from where he's positioned a few feet away.

“You could get some sleep, you know.” Karl suggests, but she gives a decisive shake of her head.

“No. I'll sleep when we're off this rock.” the former Triton officer replies, shifting slightly so she could lift Barolay's head off her shoulder and lean her lover fully against the wall without waking her up. She rises into a half-crouch, and takes care to keep her gun aimed on the ground as she moves closer to where Karl is standing next to Sharon. “How's it looking?”

“It's been close to seventeen hours without so much as a gunshot from them.” Foley comments from his spot on the ground. Ava's head rests on his leg as she sleeps, and Bodie is laid out next to them. He'd survive his wound, but one of the marines had shot him up with morpha to dull the pain, and it had knocked him out.

Faith nods and turns back to face Karl again as a question suddenly popped into her head. “How's Anna?”

Karl gave her a small smile before replying. “She's good. Adama let her join Viper training a few weeks ago. I think it was to keep her off his ass, she'd been hounding him relentlessly about sending a rescue op back here. Guess between her and Kara, it worked out.”

Faith let out a low chuckle, and shakes her head slightly. “Good girl, that one. She's been a good soldier since day one for us.”

Their conversation is interrupted by Anders almost falling over in his slumber and waking with a snap. Faith watches as he checks his watch and looks up at where Kara is standing above him for a moment before turning to peek out one of the holes in the structure, his gun aimed into the foliage.

“Eighteen hours, they're taking the sweet time out there.” she hears him mutter.

“They're up to something.” Kara replies, and Faith lets out a hollow laugh, drawing the attention.

“Toasters are always up to something, but they've never waited this long to press an attack.” Nightshade points out.

“We'll get a recon team together, see if we can't figure out what's going on.” Kara decides.

Ten minutes later the all-clear signal comes from the marines, and Faith falls into step behind Kara and Karl as they lead the way over to where the recon team is standing. Anders, Barolay, Foley, Ava and Ten-Point spreading out behind them.

“They're gone.” Kara mutters in disbelief, and Faith, along with Sam and Helo turns to look at her. “They just left.”

Faith opens her mouth to voice her doubt, but Cavil decides to speak up from the rear of the group at that moment, and draws the attention of them all.

“Thank the gods!” The priest proclaims, raising his hands up in front of him. “It's a miracle. Let us pray.”

Faith watches as he pulls his hat off and closes his eyes, and his lips begin moving in silent verse. She lowers her head slightly out of respect, but keeps her eyes open as he begins to give a small sermon right in the middle of the woods.

 

It had taken less than two hours to get to the waiting Raptors, and Faith had ended up in one with Sam, Kara and Barolay. She'd fallen asleep maybe an hour into the flight and when the Raptors docked on Galactica, the slightly rocky landing jarred her awake.

She pulls herself up to her feet, pressing a hand against the roof to steady herself in the still moving Raptor. The others were already standing, having wanted to see the approach to the Battlestar. Kara had offered to wake Faith for it but she'd declined, having seen it enough times while she was serving on the Triton.

A few moments later, the Raptor comes to a halt and the pilot, who had introduced herself as Racetrack when they'd boarded back on Caprica, presses a button on her console to open the hatch door.

Kara is the first out, followed by Anders, and Barolay motions that she'd follow Faith, so the viper pilot steps down onto the wing and then climbs down onto the floor of the deck. The four of them walk almost in a line with Kara in the lead, all coming to a halt as the blonde stops to address a pair of uniformed officers.

“Am I good or what?” Starbuck asks with a smirk as she faces the shorter of the two men, and the other lets out a scoff.

“Gonna be no living with her now.” The bald officer remarks casually, and watches as Kara and the first officer embrace. Faith guesses that this must be Adama.

“It's good to see you. Welcome back.” 'Adama' tells Kara as they pull apart a couple moments later.

“Thank you sir. I brought some friends.”

Faith meets Adama's gaze unwaveringly as he turns from Kara to face where she, Sam and Barolay are standing a few feet away. “So I see.” is the Admiral's reply and Kara adopts an embarassed look for half a second.

“Right. This is Samuel T. Anders, Faith Lehane and Jean Barolay, they led the Caprica Resistance.” Kara introduces the trio.

Adama's gaze falls to Faith's tags hanging over her shirt, and then shoot back up to meet her eyes.

“Did you serve or did you steal those?” Faith can tell Adama is making an honest attempt to keep suspicion out of his tone, she doesn't take offence.

“They're mine sir, I was on leave from the Triton when the Cylons attacked.” Faith finds herself saluting the superior officer as she explains. “Lieutenant Faith Lehane, callsign Nightshade.”

“Can anyone vouch for you?” Adama inquires a little forcefully.

“Karl Agathon. We were in basic flight together.” Faith replies, and feels a bit of relief when Kara decides to back her up.

“She's legit sir, Helo will confirm.” Starbuck tells the commander of the fleet, and Adama nods after a moment, clearly having complete trust in the blonde. “Anyways, we have good news. The Cylon occupation is over. They left, they're gone.”

“What are you talking about?” Adama demands low, that only the people around him can hear.

“It's true.” Faith's gaze snaps up to look past Adama as Cavil steps out of one of the other Raptors, and begins to make his way down the wing to the floor. The eyes of the others fly to him as well. “The Cylons have left the colonies, they've moved on to greener pastures.”

“Security! Code Blue!!” A dark haired man in an orange deck officer's jumpsuit suddenly yells and runs forward to shove Cavil against the wing of the Raptor with a thud that resonates through-out the flight landing deck.

“Hey!” Faith hears Kara yell as she finds herself yelling “What the Frak?!”, and her mouth drops open in shock at the deck officer's next words.

“He's a Cylon!” 

The deck goes completely silent as all eyes fall upon Cavil and the deckhand, and Adama speaks in an attempt to restore order. “It's okay Chief, we got it.”

Faith stands stock still as she watches the deck chief reluctantly release his hold on the priest, and Cavil rights himself and brushes at his jacket a couple times before looking around the crowd.

“Well, this is an awkward moment.” Cavil quips dryly, and turns to face the direction Adama is standing in. “Yes, he's right. I'm a cylon, and I have a message. So, take me to your leader.”

Faith suddenly feels dizzy and glances at Sam and Barolay, both of whom look as shocked as her. She barely hears anything being said around her now, her mind is a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions as she wonders how many of their people had died due to the man... no, machine that had infiltrated their ranks from day one. She felt physically sick.

She looked back as Cavil, and for some reason Sharon are led away to the brig by a squad of marines, and clears her head just in time to hear Kara speak.

“Welcome to Galactica.”

 

She'd gotten her hands on a tin of cigarettes from one of the marines, and her ass had taken up residence on a crate in one of the halls near the left portside launchtubes. It had been about an hour or two since Cavil had admitted to being a cylon and her thoughts had since turned to the same one, repeating as if on a loop. 

Why had he saved her life that first day? 

It was plaguing her, and the cigarette did little to ease her nerves or tension. So wrapped up in her thoughts she doesn't notice the armed guards leading two Cavils through.

She stands up suddenly, and her eyes lock with the Cavil that had been on Caprica. For a brief moment, they hold a look of betrayal, which is quickly replaced with anger and she jerks her head away, choosing to stare at the wall rather than him. 

“Lieutenant.” She turns away from the wall to face Adama, who'd been following the marines and prisoners.

“Sir.” She salutes, rising to her feet and snapping to attention.

“At ease, Lieutenant.” Adama says, and Faith lowers the salute, meeting his eyes with her own as she waits for him to speak. “I'm assuming after eight months you'll be wanting to get back in a cockpit?”

“Yes sir.” Faith says eagerly. “I'll go wherever you need me.”

“Come speak to me later.” Adama tells her before moving on to follow the guard escort down the adjoining hall. Faith steps up to the mouth of the corridor to watch him go, and sees Anders standing with Kara a bit down the hall, and the deck chief that had outed Cavil. There are several people that she'd not met before watching as well, and the Cavils seem to be studying each face that they pass.

Shrugging off any remorse for what they were about to do to the priest who'd tricked her and the others for months, she turns and starts off down the hallway that led back to the Hangar Deck.

 

Gaius Baltar had been elected to the office of the Presidency a few days later, and his first official act was to order Adama to set a course for the planet that had been dubbed 'New Caprica'. There'd not been Cylon contact of any kind since the Cavils had been airlocked, and it seemed that the war was finally over.

There was some speculation that the destruction of Cloud-9 and a couple of the smaller ships that had been unfortunate to have been to close to the explosion, had been the work of a new Cylon attack, but Baltar had pressed the issue of colonization, and as no further attacks occurred, it was eventually dismissed as accidental. Faith had her doubts, but kept them to herself.

Adama had put her into Galactica's pilot rotation as promised, and she'd been assigned to the scouting party that was going planetside. To her surprise, she'd been met by Anna Frost as she entered the CAG's briefing room, and quickly learned that the twenty year old was now going by the callsign Icicle.

Anna had offered to be Faith's wingman for the op, and due to their history, Adama had agreed despite the fact that Anna was barely out of the bastardized version of basic flight that was now utilized in the new pilots training. The young pilot hadn't disappointed either, only trouble she'd had was the landing on the sandy terrain.

Faith pulled herself out of the cockpit, and took a couple steps onto the wing before jumping down to land in a crouch on the ground. She remains in the position she landed in for a moment as she reached down and scooped up some of the sand with her right hand, letting it slowly cascade off to fall to the ground again.

She takes a sweeping glance around the surrounding area, seeing most of the other members of the scouting party doing much the same, and then her gaze moves skyward, catching sight of the ships high above.

 

ONE YEAR LATER

 

Faith's gaze was skyward as she stepped out of the tent-residence that she'd been sharing with Barolay for the past six months, and into the cold night air. Anna had been with them for a while, but the young pilot had moved in with Bodie shortly after he'd come down with some of the marines about two months back. Her gaze flickered around the busy street, and she glances back into the tent for a moment, seeing Barolay still sound asleep in the bed they share. Her gaze lingers on the redhead for a long moment before she turns and walks off down the street, heading for work.

She'd worked the rotation on Galactica for the first six months, even taking double shifts twice, then three times a week as more and more pilots turned in their resignations to settle planetside. When Anders had told her and Jean that he was going to settle with Kara on the planet, she'd been hesitant to accept the offer to go with them, but Barolay had been the one to convince her. She was glad at least that Adama didn't seem to be bothered by her resignation, though it was more likely that it had been overshadowed by Kara's decision to call it in.

With the cylons gone, there had been no reason for her to continue fighting and she felt a bit complacent with how slow life had become on a day to day basis. Despite the fact that her life had been in endless peril while she'd been stranded on Caprica with the rest of the resistance, she'd felt more alive then than she did now. 

She stopped as a familiar voice reached her ears and she turned to see Kara dragging a reluctant Sam off of the Pyramid court that had been set up in the middle of the square, the other players throwing jeers at the married couple as they wandered off. A few moments afterwards the remaining players are joined by one of Tyrol's deck crew from Galactica. Seelix, if Faith remembered correctly.

She shrugged and moved on, finishing her walk to Laird's garage. The former Pegasus deck chief had been an automotive mechanic on Tauron before the cylons attacked and had decided to resume his previous occupation now that the danger had passed.

“Morning Evan.” She greets as she pushes through the front door, and smiles at her boss as he pops out from behind the counter, having been reading a book on the cot he'd set up in the far corner.

“Morn' Faith.” Laird greets back before clapping his hand to his mouth to hold back a yawn. “What time is it?”

“I dunno. Bout nine, nine-thirty maybe.” The raven haired woman guesses. “Wouldn't worry about having to get up early for a bit. Way I heard it last night, Tyrol's gonna be pushing for a strike.”

“Fine by me, I didn't start this up to service the needs of Gaius Baltar whenever his transport blows a tire or someone vandalizes it.” 

Faith smirks as Laird's eyes fly to hers as he mentions the part about vandalism, and shrugs.

“To protect the identities of my co-conspirators, I know nothing.” Faith tells him with a slight chuckle behind her words.

“Meh. Your time is your own, just don't get caught. I don't want to look for a replacement anytime soon.” Laird shrugs himself, and picks up a piece of paper from the counter. “Feel up to making a pick up in the southern district?”

“Sure, I can swing by Gio's and pick up some breakfast on the way back, if yah want.” She offers as she takes the paper from Laird and turns to leave.

“Nah, just pick me up a coffee with cream and maybe a bagel if they got any with onion.”

“Kay, I'll be back in an hour or so.” She promises before making her way back out and getting into the driver's seat of the tow-truck parked on the side of the building. She sparks up the engine and pulls out onto the street, going slow in case any kids decided to be playing in the road.

~~~~~~~~~

She hadn't made it back before the first wave of Cylon Raiders had flown overhead, and she'd slammed on the brakes in the middle of the dirt road that surrounded the burgeoning city. She jumps out and stares up at the sky as a heavy Raider like the one that Kara had flown off Caprica well over a year ago, zips past awfully low to the ground, seemingly looking to land.

“Frak me.” She curses before jumping back into the truck and hauling ass back to the garage, any thought of getting a late breakfast forgotten.

She finds Laird standing outside the garage, a worried look on his face as he turns to face Faith.

“Tell me this is a bad dream Lehane.” He all but begs, and she frowns.

“Wish I could boss.” She says and then turns as the familiar metallic thump against the dirt begins to echo through the streets and both she and Laird turn to look as dozens of Centurions begin to march up the street, coming from a heavy raider that has docked in a square around the corner.

The two auto mechanics watch horrified as the seemingly endless line of robotic assassins marches past, not paying them much, if any, attention as they trudge on to head further into the colony.

~~~~~~~~

Baltar had surrendered almost as soon as the skinjobs had set foot on Colonial One, and word had passed down through the colony that they were all to abide by any new laws that the Cylons deemed fit to issue. After all the spilled blood of the past twenty months, both on Caprica and in the fleet, had been for nothing it seemed.

The news only got worse as the day progressed. The fleet had abandoned them to the mercy of the Cylons. What few vipers and raptors were planetside had been confiscated along with the launch keys for the larger ships. 

Worst of all for morale was the fact that Kara Thrace had disappeared within hours of the Cylon's arrival.

She hadn't been surprised when Saul Tigh had shown up at the tent she shared with Barolay late that night as the two women were attempting to drown themselves in a bottle of whiskey.

“Lehane, Barolay.” He'd greeted as he entered and took a seat at the wooden spool that they used as a dining table. “I assume you know what I came to talk about.”

Faith opens her mouth to answer but stops for a moment as Anders enters as well and their eyes meet. She waits until he pulls the flap shut again before speaking.

“I got a pretty good idea, yeah.” She answers, leaning back in her chair. “Anything you need, I'm willing. We didn't make it through the occupation to submit now.”

“Glad to hear it.” Tigh nods curtly, and turns to Faith's lover. “Barolay?”

“Yeah.” The redhead agrees, and the New Caprica Insurgency is born.

~~~~~~~~~  
END OF OCCUPATION ARC  
3\. Insurgency

From here on out, the fic will follow the events of the third and fourth seasons, and include a flashback here and there. Also I am considering that if enough people like this fic, I may go back at some point and do a more detailed Caprica Resistance 'movie' ala Razor and The Plan. Some canon events will be altered slightly to fit Faith's presence in the BSG-verse.

Original Character Casting: Anna Frost/Icicle – Katharine Isabelle; James Foley – Norman Reedus; Ava Carver/Foley – Emilie de Ravin; Bodie Stone – JD Williams;

 

~~~~~~~~~  
INSURGENCY  
~~~~~~~~~

They had come for her the night before as she was on her way back from work, waiting to ambush her as she came up to her tent. Frakkin' cowards that they were, it'd taken three of the so-called New Caprica police to beat her into submission. Faith was fairly sure she'd felt a rib or two crack with a particularly vicious kick to the midsection before the Cavil with them had finally called them off.

“Just kill me and be done with it!” She'd screamed at him as she coughed up blood from having been punched particularly hard in the chest by one of the thugs he'd brought. He'd done nothing more than look down at her, shaking his head as if begrieved by her assault. After a moment he looks away from her as one of the other masked police exits her tent, carrying a couple of automatic rifles.

“Found them in a hidden cache under the bed.” The masked cop informs the Cylon, who gives a stiff nod

“Take her to the detention center.” Cavil had instructed the collaborators, who'd complied without question, dragging her off to the truck that was waiting around the corner.

She'd been thrown into the back with little to no regard by two of the men while the third got into the cab of the truck, with Cavil. Her hands were tightly bound in front with plastic bindings before they backed off and left her to lie on the floor until the truck arrived at the destination that had been requested by the fake priest.

It had been about three months since the Cylons had come back, and it seemed that no help was coming this time around, not that she blamed them. Adama had made his objections to colonization almost as vocal as Roslin had, but Baltar wouldn't listen, the godsdamn fool. He was the one she blamed, who most of the insurgency blamed.

As they dragged her into the building and into the nearest cell, she'd kept her eyes open and wandering in the hope that she might be able to catch a peek at Tigh or Kara, the latter who still had not been seen or heard from since day one.

No such luck, and the white-walled concrete room they'd left her in didn't even have a window. They'd taken her clothes despite her attempts at physical objection, and left behind a grey shirt that would serve better to clean out the exhaust pipe of whatever Laird had in his shop today, and a pair of thin fabric drawstring sweatpants of the same color.

She still hadn't bothered with putting them on, choosing to instead throw them against the door as it'd closed behind the NCP agents. Hours would pass before it opened again.

~~~~~~~~

Barolay had gotten home herself just a mere fifteen minutes following Faith's arrest to find the residence they shared in complete shambles. The floor littered with clothes and personal belongings, both hers and Faith's, the couch was overturned and their bed was in pieces as it had been flipped over. They'd been looking for something and as Jean looked down into the now empty hole that had been concealing guns, she knew they'd gotten what they came for.

“Jean?” She looked over at the entrance to the tent as Sam enters about a half-hour later, looking around the ransacked home with shock visible in his eyes. “I came to see why you and Faith hadn't shown up at the meet. What happened?”

The redhead gestures to the empty hole, and Sam steps closer to glance down. “The place was like this when I got home about a half hour ago. Guns are gone, and Jaina Booth said she saw Faith get pulled out and carted off in the back of a truck. I think they took her to the detention center.”

“Frak!” Sam curses, running his hand through his hair as his stress level rises. “First Kara, then Tigh and now Faith. We gotta do something to send a message back.”

“Godsdamn right.” Jean agrees.

Sam is silent for a moment, taking a long look around the mess made by the NCP, and then turns back to his best friend. “You can't stay here, they could come back.”

“I know. I was thinking of crashing in the cavern for a couple nights, then maybe see about staying with the Foleys at least until Faith gets out.”

“If she gets out.”

“Hey!” Jean half-heartedly punches Sam in the shoulder. “I'm trying to not give up all hope here.”

Anders gives a solemn nod and apologetic look in reply as the two Caprica survivors fall into silence for a couple moments before heading out to go to the meet with the other insurgency leaders not currently imprisoned.

~~~~~~~~~

“What do you want?” Faith sneers at Cavil as he strolls in, dragging a chair behind her.

“Just a chat, if you're willing.” Cavil replies, holding his hands out so that she can see he's at least unarmed, though it does little to ease her spirits.

“I ain't saying shit to you, frakin toaster.” The raven haired insurgent hisses.

“I wouldn't expect you to. I know you well enough to know you'd die before betraying your friends.” Cavil replies and Faith gives him a quizzical but wary look.

“So then what? You just wanna babble more of that religious inspirational shit like back in Delphi? Why the hell did you save me anyways, the bullet in my shoulder would have eventually migrated to my heart and then I wouldn't have been such a problem for your little buddies.” Faith dragged herself up a bit to lean her back against the wall, still clad in only her underwear.

“You want the truth Faith? Honestly?” Cavil questions, his voice suddenly harsh.

“Like you're capable of honesty.” Faith scoffs, looking away from the aging skinjob.

“You were an experiment in sociology. We wanted to see how a lone Colonial officer could handle putting together an army, all while surrounded on all sides by an indeterminant number of unfriendlies. Karl Agathon would have eventually joined you, but the unforeseen defection of the eight and his chance encounter with Kara Thrace derailed that plan. The seventy that Stone and Frost brought back that day were herded right where we needed them to be, it was no coincidence that they found their way to you.” Cavil tells her, a certain smugness clear in his tone. “But congratulations, you preformed admirably.”

“And then you killed them. You cold frak.” Faith didn't bother to hold back her tears. “It's all a game to you, isn't it?”

“I'm a machine Lt. Lehane, of course I'm cold.” Cavil remarks, rising from his seat. “But don't kid yourself with the knowledge that you know just how cold I can be, because you haven't even seen my dark side. You'll have a better idea shortly.”

Faith turned her head to watch as he moved to the door, rapping twice on the metal. A moment passes and then the door opens, and Faith can see a couple of the NPC agents standing outside.

“Bring her to the infirmary, and make sure she's restrained properly.” Cavil instructs the pair before casting a glance down at where Faith is slumped against the wall. “If she fights, feel free to use force but don't kill her. Her death, while it would mean less problems for our efforts towards co-existance, would only serve to drive more to join the insurgency. Let's not make a martyr out of her.”

Cavil leaves and the two NCP agents enter and haul her to her feet before pulling her out between them. She doesn't resist as they start towards the infirmary. If she'd known what awaited her, she damn well would have.

The Doc and another Cavil were already waiting when they led her into the infirmary and seeing the sickening expression on the dark skinned Cylon's face, she decides that struggling was the way to go after all.

It does her little good as one of the NCP traitors gut punches her, and she doubles up in pain, leaving her open for the other to drive his knee into her face. After that, it doesn't take much for them to get her laid out on one of the gurneys and strap her down with the leather restraints.

When she's secured, the Cavil apparently feels safe enough to approach her, the same smug look as the other on his face.

“A year and a half ago you told me that being a pilot was the only thing you were good at, it was about the same time that the first of your resistance buddies died.” Cavil reminds her. “Now as I explained earlier, killing you isn't an option so we'll have to settle for an alternative punishment. Simon?”

The Cylon doctor steps up next to where Faith is strapped down, and sticks her in the crook of her left wrist with a needle, injecting gods-knew-what into her bloodstream. A couple moments pass after he pulls it out, and then her entire arm goes dead-numb. She stares at him with a look of hatred as he pokes at the flesh on her wrist and hand.

“Can you feel that?” Cavil inquires curiously from where he is standing behind the cylon doc, but Faith doesn't answer, opting to stare at the ceiling instead. “Hmm. No matter, we'll know in a moment. Cut her hand off.”

Faith's eyes widen as she catches the flash of silver, but she feels no pain, but a couple moments later she feels a warm liquid against her naked side as the blood pulls around the stump. She screams as the Doc holds her severed hand up and waves it at her.

“Enough Simon, get her wound cauterized, clean her up and have them put her back in the cell, we'll probably be releasing her tommorrow with Tigh.” Cavil orders, throwing Faith a dry look as she begins to thrash against her restraints, a steady stream of explitives coming out of her mouth as he starts to leave.

When he gets to the door, he stops and turns back for a moment. “On second thought, best to sedate her, don't want her killing herself on our watch.”

~~~~~~~~

The news that Faith had joined Saul Tigh in the detention center had spread amongst the members of the insurgency like a wildfire, and the outrage that came out of the news brought nearly two-hundred more people looking to join up with the insurgency. 

Barolay wasn't sure why she'd even bothered to show up at the water treatment plant that day, but in the end it had proven theraputic.

She and the blonde Six copy were the only ones working the septic level, and with no one around to interfere, the redhaired insurgent had grabbed a wrench off a toolbox and swung it into the back of the unwary cylon's skull.

She dug a roll of duct tape out of one of the tool-box drawers and worked swiftly to bind the cylons legs together and then did the same with the blonde machines arms after pulling them behind her back. She slaps a piece of tape over the cylon's mouth as it begins to stir and Jean wastes no time shoving the toaster into the pit of human waste.

As she looks down into the hole she has to plug her nose to block the smell, but she can see the cylon below, writhing in the brown water for a few moment before sinking down into the shit.

Barolay laughs at the cylon's plight and leaves her to drown, alone and scared.

~~~~~~~~

She blinked as light suddenly filled the cell, and lifts her remaining hand up in front of her face to shield her eyes from the brightness from the now open door. After a moment her eyes adjust and she looks past her hand to see Cavil enter with one of the Sharons.

“Go away.” Nightshade turns away from the two cylons, bringing her good hand down to cradle her stump to her chest.

“You know, if you hadn't attacked me yesterday, you'd have been released with Colonel this morning.” Cavil tells her with a sneering look, moving to crouch down next to her, balancing on the balls of his feet. “Your friends in the Insurgency have been quite busy the past few days, between blowing up a crowded docking bay and sending a suicide bomber into the NCP graduation ceremony.”

“Yay them.” Faith smirks, tilting her head up to meet the faux priests eyes. She doesn't flinch at the suddenly angry look on his face, and then a loud crack echoes through the cell as he backhands her in the head. 

She spits blood out as her head snaps to the side and she falls sideways so she's sprawled across the concrete floor. 

“We've decided to stop playing nice. Congratulations Lieutenant, you were the first one of the group selected for execution. The others are being rounded up as we speak.” Cavil informs her as he rises to his full height, and turns to leave her cell.

“Should have done it back on Caprica, you spineless frak.” Faith mutters.

Cavil gives a slow nod, not having much left to say to her. He gives her one more brief look before departing. The Sharon follows a moment later, and then Faith is once more shrouded in darkness.

 

Cally had been moments from falling asleep on her and Galen's bed when they came for her, surging in from both entrances of the Tyrol home. She let out a scream of terror as they grabbed her, not completely sure of what was happening, and started flailing as they dragged her out to the street and then to the waiting transport.

Anna Frost had just come out of her own tent as this was happening, intent on having a cigarette, and her eyes flashed in rage as she saw one of her closest friends being manhandled by the New Caprica Police.

“Hey!” Icicle yells at the masked thugs, and before she can stop herself, has grabbed a shovel from the ground and charged at the group.

She swings the deadly tool at the closest one when she gets in striking distance, and there is a loud clang as the metal impacts the side of the thug's skull and he collapses into a boneless heap on the ground.

Her victory is short however, as she pulls back for another swing, two more of the thugs had come up behind her and tackled her to the ground. She curses up a storm as her arms are wrenched behind her back and bound with a plastic zip-tie. Both she and Cally are loaded into the truck and as it pulls away, people begin to come outside to see what was going on.

One such person is Ten-Point, the only surviving member of the C-Bucs outside of Sam, and he immediately breaks into a sprint, intent on warning the other members of the insurgency that it looked like they were rounding up the leaders.

~~~~

Saul and Galen looked over as the hatch that led down into the cavern suddenly pulled open to allow entry for Ten-Point and Bodie, both out of breath from having run quite a distance in ten minutes. Bodie had been on his way to the market when he'd seen James and Ava Foley in the back of a truck that had passed, both bound with plastic zip-ties as was the standard when it came to prisoner transport. 

The two insurgents had run into eachother as they came up to the east market and ran the rest of the way to the tent that housed the entrance to the cavern.

“They're rounding up the leaders.” Ten-Point informed the insurgent members that had been in the cavern, drawing the attention of Sam, Barolay, and Ellen Tigh, who'd been further into the cavern's expanse and came over. 

“What?” Tigh thundered, his gaze snapping to the former Pyramid pro.

“The Cylons have the NCP rounding up the leaders, they have at least four more of us.” Bodie confirms. “I saw both the Foley's in the back of one of the trucks, they took 'em to the D.C.”

“Icicle too.” Ten-Point adds, and then throws a begrieved look at Galen. “And Cally. I'm sorry Chief.”

“WHAT!?” Tyrol screams before breaking into a dead run, shoving right past Bodie and Ten-Point to run up the stairs to the surface and out of sight.

“Gods damn it.” Tigh mutters angrily, turning suddenly to swing his arm and knock the glass pitcher of water off the desk he'd been sitting at. It flies into the wall and shatters, leaving a pile of broken glass amidst a puddle that was slowly sinking into the ground. A moment of silence passes and he turns to each of the Insurgent leaders. “We need to find out exactly how many people were taken, who they are, and who we have left. Each of you take a section of town and get anyone still free here, we have plans to make.”

Sam leads the way out, followed by Barolay, Bodie and Ten-Point, leaving the other three below to wait for their return with the others.

~~~~~~~~~

The next couple days were a whirlwind of activity as plans were made and documents forcibly signed at gunpoint.

Faith let out a grunt as she came awake to find a couple of the New Caprica Police pulling her to her feet. She opens her eyes and shakes her head a couple times to clear the sleep. Finally her vision comes into focus to find a Cavil standing in the doorway of her cell.

“Bring her.” The cylon orders and Faith feels herself gripped by her upper right arm on one side as the one on her left loops a zip-tie through a couple loops on her belt line and then secures her hand to her side. When he's finished, he also grips her by her other arm and she allows the pair to lead her out.

They follow Cavil down a couple different corridors and then out a set of double doors and into the sun. Faith blinks as the bright light fills her vision and she tries to raise her stumped wrist to shield her eyes but the masked cop grabs her forearm and holds it down. They lead her over to the back of one of the trucks, and help her up into the back. 

She's pushed onto the bench right at the end of the truck, and another zip-tie goes around her ankle, fastening it to the leg of the bench. They leave her there and shortly thereafter, more people are brought out and loaded into the trucks.

To her dismay, Cally Tyrol ends up in the same truck as her, the crewman specialist's hands bound in front of her. Faith takes care to keep her severed hand out of view as the other woman drops onto the bench directly opposite her.

“Do you know where they're taking us?” the mechanic asks, her fear reflecting from her eyes.

“Not anyplace we're going to want to be.” Faith mutters, and then watches Cally's gaze fall to her seemingly unbound hands.

“Why aren't you bound like the rest of us?” Cally suddenly inquires, and Faith winces at the suspicious tone in her voice.

“Same reason I'll never fly a viper again.” Faith answered sadly before pulling her stump out so the redhead could see. Cally gasps in horror and her eyes go almost impossibly wide.

“Gods, I'm so sorry.” She apologizes, her eyes moving up to meet Faith's. “I didn't mean to imply-”

“It's fine Cally, we've all been on edge.” Nightshade forgives her assumption without pause, and Galen's wife gives her a thankful nod.

Faith turns away for a moment as another group is lead out to fill the truck behind the one that she and Cally were in and her eyes narrow as she sees both James and Ava Foley amongst the group.

~~~~~~~~~

“Bodie!” the card player turned Marine looked up from where he was standing outside the Tigh's tent, keeping an eye on the goings-on in the streets, as Galen Tyrol comes running up.

“What going on?” Bodie asks as Tyrol comes to a halt in front of him. 

“No time.” Tyrol gasps, pushing past and going into the tent. Bodie takes a last sweeping glance of the area before following suit.

As he enters, Galen is already in the midst of a rant, brandishing a piece of paper in front of both Saul and Ellen. “It's a death list. Cal- Cally's name is on it.”

Bodie's eyes widen at the same time as Tigh, and without much thought, his hand snaps out to grab the piece of paper from the former deck chief. His eyes narrow in fury as they scan down the list.

“Mother frakkers.” He curses enraged. “They're all on here. Faith, Roslin, The Foleys, even frakin' Tom Zarek.”

“Give me that!” Tigh barks, and Bodie hands over the list without pause. The colonel is silent as he scans the page with his good eye. “They got this organized by transport vehicles. Cally, Faith and the rest of them are in a group heading for map coordinate x-ray seven.”

“I know, but where is that. How are we going to-” Bodie took a step back as Galen began to panic, but Tigh cuts him off.

“Calm down damn it!” He barks at Tyrol. “You gotta think clearly here or she's dead. They're all dead, got it?”

Bodie watches as Tyrol nods slowly, fighting off the fear and panic.

“Good. Now we've already figured out their map co-ordinate system.” Saul reminds them. “It's referred to in the list of Cylon freqs you got in the last dead-drop.”

From his spot, Bodie can see the proverbial lightbulb go off in the chief's head.

“Holy frak, you're right. I can extrapolate the coordinate system.” Galen realizes.

“They're gonna need to pick up a few people in town. That'll take time, so the two of you get a couple others and get there ahead of the trucks.”

Galen nods and departs from the tent with Bodie following quickly behind him.

~~~~~~~~~

The trucks had finally come to a stop in the hills a few miles outside of the city, and the New Caprica Police had herded them out, telling them to stretch their legs

Faith had needed a bit of help to get off the back of the truck, and had requested the aid of one of the masked police, who'd done so with a bit of reluctance. As her feet touched the ground, she feigned an unsteady footing to fall slightly against the so-called peace keeper. The fingers of her bound hand dips into his pocket with a certain swiftness, removing the small pocket knife that had been slightly visible from the mouth of said pocket.

She conceals it in her palm and squeezes her hand into a fist at her side before he's any wiser.

“Thank you.” She feigns gratitude.

“Whatever, just get up there with the rest of them.” The masked man orders gruffily, and pushes her forward, away from him and in the direction of the truck that was in the front.

She takes a few steps the way that he wants her to go, and then as she hears his footsteps move off, she turns to head towards the back. She leans into the side of the truck she'd been on, using her good hand to flick open the pocket knife. 

Faith takes a quick look around before flipping the knife around so the blade is under the zip-tie, and saws through it as she watches one of the other masked thugs grab Cally and lead her over to the edge where the side of the road turned into a ravine. She feels the plastic restraint come loose as the masked man with Cally pulls a knife out, and for half a second Faith has the horrifying thought that he'd just stabbed Cally.

Her fears subside a moment later as Cally suddenly turns and throws herself down the ravine, the mask turning to watch her go. Faith sees an opening and takes off at a dead run, slamming into the back of the masked man to send both of them tumbling after Cally. The mask hits the ground first and cushions Nightshade's fall, and the whole event causes Cally to stop running and turn back. She quickly grabs rock from the dirt and slams it into the side of the man's head, knocking him unconsious.

“Faith!” The young mother cried out, quickly coming back over as Faith relieved the mask of his gun.

“Get down!” Faith hisses at Cally, who complies by throwing herself against the decline of the hill next to Faith as she pulls away from the NCP that she'd knocked down the ravine.

“Will he live?” Cally asks in a whisper, jerking her head in the direction of the downed man.

Faith looks down for a moment and gives a shrug. “Does it matter?”

“He was saving me.” Cally pointed out and Faith fixes her friend with a dry look.

“Not taking anything away from that particular kindness, but he'd still was going to let the rest of us die. They brought us out here to kill us.”

Cally opens her mouth as if she's going to argue further, but closes it and nods understanding instead. Faith gives her a small smile, and turns away.

“Follow me.” Nightshade instructs, starting to edge her way back up the side of the ravine. Cally follows close behind.

“What are we gonna do?” She asks as they come to a stop just before they reach the top.

“I may never fly again, but I can still damn well shoot.” Faith replies, bracing her right knee into the dirt as she holds the gun up.

She's about to make her move when suddenly gunfire echoes from several positions across the flats. 

“Frak, seems we might have a shot after all.” Faith remarks with a little cheer. She sticks her head up over the side of the road and sees Cavil trying to hide between two of the trucks as the insurgents fire upon the NCP and the Centurions that had come upon the grouping of prisoners.

Faith lets out a vengeful scream as she brings the gun up to fire at Cavil, catching him twice, once in the left shoulder and one in the stomach before he collapses in a heap on the ground. She pulls herself out of the ravine and then helps Cally climb up as well before shoving the younger woman against the side of the nearest truck.

“Don't move til I say.” Faith orders, her voice loud so she'll be heard over the booming gunfire. Cally nods quickly and Faith moves away to edge around the truck. She peeks her head out as the last of the Centurions fall to the insurgent's fire.

With a look to the east, she can see a couple of the NCP traitors hauling ass across the flats out of the insurgents aim.

She doesn't bat an eye as the gun comes up again and she empties the clip on the fleeing collaborators, both of them catching at least two bullets each before falling. She keeps firing even after the clip runs dry and doesn't notice Cally coming up behind her, with both the Foleys in tow.

“Faith? You can stop now, it's over.” she hears Ava's distinct accent and nods slowly as she stares ahead at the bodies laying in the dirt. She lets the spent gun fall from the fingers of her good hand, and it emits a small thud as it hits the dirt.

She slowly turns to face her friends, glad that they'd all survived for today at least, and pulls out the knife she'd pickpocketed earlier. Without a word she quickly cuts the bindings on both James and Ava, who then pull her into an embrace as she finally decides she can stop the facade she'd kept up since Cavil had taken her hand and breaks down crying in their arms. Cally watches a bit uncomfortably for a moment before her hand comes up to rest on Faith's back in an attempt to comfort her friend.

~~~~~~~~~

By the time that Tyrol had reached the convoy of trucks with Bodie, Diana Seelix and a couple others, James and Ava had managed to get most of the other prisoners free of the zip-tie bindings.

Faith had found a pack of cigarettes on one of the dead NCP thugs that were laid out in the road, and had just lit it and looked up to see Seelix standing by the Cavil, kicking a gun away as he tries to grab it and then reaching down to snatch it up as it tries again. Faith takes a drag off the cigarette and starts toward the cylon and the crewman specialist.

“Hurts, huh?” She hears Seelix mocking the fake-priest as she comes up behind her fellow insurgent. “I hope it hurts a long, long time til you go to download city.”

“No. Give me your knife.” Faith requests, and Seelix turns to face her.

“Lieutenant, thank the gods.” Seelix pulls her knife from it's sheath on the waistband of her pants, hesitating a little as she hands it out. “You're not gonna put him out of his misery are you? Let the frakker suffer.”

“Relax, I ain't killing him.” Faith assures as she takes the knife with her good hand. “We both want the same thing here, just I want him to feel more of it.”

Seelix was a bit taken aback by the changes in Faith since she'd been arrested, she still hadn't seen Nightshade's stumped wrist. She watches Faith step around her, eyes following her as she goes until the ex-pilot is staring down at the dying cylon. “What did they do to you in there?”

Faith doesn't turn away from Cavil as she holds her severed wrist out so the other woman could see, and hears the shocked gasp that comes from behind her. “Don't.” She cuts Diana off before any apologies can be made. She jerks the knife toward Cavil. “This frak did it.”

“He took the colonel's eye too.” Seelix mutters as she comes up to stand next to Nightshade, and Faith turns to look at her for a short moment, then her gaze falls back on Cavil.

“Did he now?” Faith asks, not having heard any news from any of her fellow insurgents in nearly a week. “Well then, help me hold him down.”

Seelix nods and as Faith leans down to press down on Cavil's left arm with her leg as Seelix sits on his chest. 

Nightshade adopts a sinister smirk as she dangles the knife in front of Cavil's face, and with a quick jerk of the wrist, has spun the blade in a slashing circle, the tip ripping open the faux-priest's left eye. Faith pulls back and flips the knife so it's grasped in her fist which she holds behind her for a moment.

She leans in close to Cavil's face as the cylon clutches at his now bloody face and ruined eye, the sinister having turned into a vengeful look.

“That was for Tigh... and this is for me.” She hisses into Cavil's ear before slamming the blade down deep into his wrist, scraping bone and tearing through tendons. Cavil starts to scream and writhe beneath the combined strength and weight of Faith and Seelix. Faith jerks the knife back and forth, sawing through skin, muscle and tissue ruthlessly and splattering blood with each jerk until Cavil has a stump to match hers.

She shoves away from the brutalized cylon, backing up a couple steps as she realized how far she was truly willing to let herself fall.

“It's done Di.” Nightshade says and Seelix gives a nod as she backs off as well. The two women make their way over to where the rest of the former prisoners are gathered around Tyrol and Cally. A glance down into the ravine up by the Tyrols reveals Laura Roslin and Tom Zarek standing together at the bottom.

They're just in time to hear Galen give the good news.

“We're going home. Admiral Adama's on his way. We're getting off this rock.” The chief announced. “We're going back to Galactica.”

Faith pulled her half smoked cigarette back out and lights it between her lips as she listens to the cheers erupt around her, and closes her eyes as she exhales a puff of smoke. Off somewhere to her left she hears Cally's familiar light laugh as Galen finished speaking. 

“Yay us.” She mumbles to herself, opening her eyes and staring forlornly at her stump as she brings it up in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~

“We still have people in the detention center.” Faith says as she pulls Galen back as the group comes back into the city. “Cally told me Anna tried to help her when the NCP came and got arrested too, only she wasn't with us. Not to mention Sam is still convinced that Kara's alive.”

Tyrol gives a quick nod, looking past Faith for a moment to watch as the others keep walking ahead. He finally turns back to the former pilot and speaks.

“We'll get them out. We just need to wait for Sharon to get here so she can get the launch keys, then we'll blow that shithole wide open and get them all out.”

“Good. I wanna be there for that.” Nightshade replies. “With any luck I'll run into Cavil or Simon.”

“Are they the ones that..?” Tyrol trails off, not wanting to bring it up, and Faith gives him a slow nod. “Right. Well, I think Anders is gonna be covering that, so touch base with him I suppose.”

“Will do, where's he at?”

“Out in the woods with a dozen of ours, making the rendevous with the team Galactica is sending down.” Tyrol replies, starting to follow after the rest of the group. 

“Jean?” Faith inquires, praying that her lover hadn't been arrested with one of the other groups marked for death. She falls into step behind the deck chief, and tucks her stump into her jacket pocket to hide it from the prying eyes of curious civilians walking around the street.

“She was a bit pissed that I'd selected the assault team before consulting her.” Galen recalls, giving her a small grin. “She really loves you.”

Faith nods as a small smile tugs on her lips. “I know, the feeling's mutual. So where is she?”

“Down in the caverns, we're heading down there now.” the deck chief replies. “We're keeping all the people we rescued today there. The cylons will no doubt be in chaos over what's happened today, and we don't want anyone getting picked up again.”

“So I'm on the bench then.” Faith grouses, shaking her head with an annoyed look coming over her face.

“Won't be more than a day or two at most.” Tyrol promises, glancing over at her as they both walk, a thoughtful look on his face. “You know we could have some one get Doc Cottle and have him put a cap on that, keep it clean. There might even be a couple prothesetics back on Galactica.”

“Yeah sure, whatever.” Faith mumbles as they come to a stop outside one of the tents that houses an entrance to the caverns. She pushes through the flap as Galen pauses, watching her disappear within with a concerned look on his face.

 

Her reunion with Barolay had been bittersweet, the former pilot hating the pity in the eyes of the redhead and the tears that her lover only barely held back when she'd seen what had happened to Faith under the loving care of the cylons that ran the detention center.

Faith didn't hold it against Jean, she knew that the other woman had always been led by emotion whereas Faith had always allowed instinct to guide her. In the end, they'd embraced and still were as Faith caught sight of Anders a bit away from them, in what looked like a serious conversation with the former president.

She'd only been half listening as the meeting started, unable to contribute much that wasn't already known due to her having been out of the loop for almost a week as she sat in a dark cell. The most interesting part was when Connor barged into the meeting, dragging a protesting Ellen Tigh with him.

“We need to talk.” He'd said, addressing Tigh specifically, and Faith turns to face Sam as he voices his agreement and the four move off to one of the far corners to speak privately.

“What's that about?” She asked Bodie a few moments later, nodding her head at the huddled group.

“Someone gave up the rendevous with the Galactica team.” Bodie replies, looking up from where he'd been sitting on a wooden crate, cleaning his pistol. “Guess it was Ellen.”

Faith's eyes snap to the colonel's wife, and a sneer comes over her face. “Frakin' traitor.”

“Yeah.” Bodie voices his agreement.

“You wouldn't happen to have any idea who it was that sold me out, would you?” Nightshade asks, her voice tight with barely restrained rage. “Damn NCP knew exactly what they'd been looking for, I'd put those guns in the ground almost a month ago. If it wasn't a tip off they'd have made their move before they did.”

“Do you think Ellen did it?” the former card player inquires, his own tone dark now.

Faith stares at the blonde woman in question for a moment, thinking things over. 

“No.” She says finally. “Saul was already in detention so there was no way Ellen could've known about the cache in my tent. It was just me, Jean, Anders, Galen, Anna and one of the Pegasus marines that helped move them. Only one I'd even consider to have ratted on me would be the marine, and that would be a big if, even if he hadn't been killed two weeks before I got grabbed, trying to guard his own stash.”

“So no suspects then.” 

“Nope.” Faith answered, wishing she had the answer to the identity of the second rat. “Makes you wonder how many people there are that we can really trust.”

Bodie has no reply, Faith's mention of Anna having filled his head with worry for the woman he himself loved. Faith, ever so good at reading people, put her remaining hand on her friend's shoulder, and meets his eyes as he looks up.

“We're getting her out of there Bodie. I promise.”

 

Faith was crouched between Connor and Bodie as Anders laid out the plan of attack on the detention center as the twenty or so insurgents gathered around the large hole to pull out the guns hidden there.

Faith grabs a pistol and shoves it into the waistband of her pants and then grabs a machine gun up. Hearing Anders yell to move, she falls in behind him and Connor as they lead the charge towards the target.

By the time they reach the jail, the vipers that had launched off Galactica in it's aborted downfall having taken care of most of the towers that the Centurions were firing down from.

As they made their way into the building Faith breaks away from the group to make her way down to the makeshift infirmary, intent on getting her hand back. 

She has her gun raised and ready as she pushes through the swinging doors, and finds the room empty. Lowering the weapon slightly, she steps further into the infirmary, cautious of any danger that might lurk out of sight within.

“Hello Faith.” She hears Cavil say behind her and turns to find him holding a knife to Anna's throat, the young pilot unable to fight back with her hands bound in front of her. Faith's gun comes up to aim at Cavil's head but he ducks behind Icicle and she can't get a shot without hitting the brunette. 

“Well, seems we've reached an impasse.” Cavil mocks from behind Anna, and Faith's eyes narrow. “A proposition perhaps?”

Faith growls low before replying. “Fine, what do you want?”

“Don't Faith!” Anna cries out as Cavil's blade presses harder into her throat.

“Shut up.” Cavil threatens his captive before peeking over her shoulder to meet Faith's eyes. “You came for your hand right?”

Faith gives him a reluctant nod, and Cavil grins at her. “Well you can find it in the top drawer of that cryo-container.”

He points out the container in question with the knife, pulling it away from Anna's neck for half a second before pressing it back. “Go on, go get it.”

Faith hesitates for a moment before dropping her gun and moving off to retrieve her severed hand, finding it right where the fake priest said it would be.

“Good.” Cavil remarks as Faith moves back into the middle of the room with her missing appendage. “Now you have a choice. Throw your hand down into the chute for the incinerator, and I leave her with you.”

Faith's hard gaze meets Cavil's indifferent eyes and her shoulders slump as she makes her decision. She strides to the far wall and pulls open the metal door, keeping it propped open with her elbow as she tosses the sealed bag with her other hand into the hole before letting it slam shut.

By this point, Cavil has reached a different door than the one Faith had come in, and pushes backward into the adjacent hall before shoving Anna forward back into the room and slamming the door shut behind him.

Faith is at Anna's side in less than three seconds, helping the younger woman to her feet.

“You shouldn't have done that.” Anna muttered as she rose, but Faith shakes her head as she pulls her knife out to quickly cut through the younger woman's bindings.

“Wasn't a choice Icey.” Faith disagrees. “We've been through too much, you mattered more.”

Faith's gun is up a moment later as Connor and Bodie burst through the swinging doors, their own guns raised.

“Anna!” She hears Bodie yell before he hurries across the room to embrace his viper pilot girlfriend.

Faith lets them hold eachother for a couple moments before she decides they can't waste any more time. “Come on, there'll be more than enough time when we're off this rock.”

She falls into a stride, moving past Connor to push though the doors again, heading out towards the exit with the others following after.

 

In the end it was the timely intervention of Lee Adama and the Pegasus crew that had saved Galactic, had saved them all. Faith had ended up on Racetrack's raptor with Barolay, Seelix, Connor, Bodie and Anna, the first two having been part of the group that took the airfield, along with Tigh and Tyrol.

There had been quite the rush to get off planet, and Faith's group is amongst the last to depart nearly eight hours later.

“Ha.” Faith had found herself chuckling dryly as the raptor had finally lifted off and started it's journey to the battlestar, and she gives Anna a nudge. “First ones in, last ones out.”

Anna gives a small nod from where she's huddled against Bodie. “Same old story.” She agrees.

Faith leans her head against Barolay's shoulder and she and the rest fell into silence for the duration of the trip, all parties both physically and mentally drained from the events of the past several months.

After what seems an eternity for those on board, the raptor finally docks aboard Galactica and pulls to a stop before Racetrack remote opens the hatch to allow them to disembark.

Faith is the last of the New Caprican citizens off the raptor and pulls away as Barolay attempts to pull her towards the redhead had seen Sam and Kara standing.

“Not right now Jean.” Faith said, her voice cracking as everything finally caught up with her. “I'll find you in a bit, I just need... some time to get my head on straight.”

Barolay gave her a sad nod as she let her hand fall to her side, and the redhead turns to go over to Sam and Starbuck. “I understand Faith, I'll see you later then.”

“Yeah.” Faith mutters low and then turns herself in the opposite direction, finding herself ambling toward the last place she'd seen her viper.

As luck would have it, it's right where she'd left it and she comes to a stop in front of the Viper's nose as the chant of “Adama! Adama!” fills the crowded deck, but Faith mostly ignores it as she raises her good hand to run it across the front of her bird, a look of longing in her eyes.

From across the room, Tom Zarek observes the behavior of certain people as plans for the future begin to come together in his head. Faith is one such person, and as his gaze falls to the wrist hanging to her side as she touches the viper, he knows she is a perfect candidate for a little project he'd thought up to deal with the cylon collaborators and traitors of humankind.

~~~~~~~~~

She'd been on her way to find Barolay and see about getting set up in a bunk when Tom Zarek had made his move, coming out from around a corner to stop in front of her.

“Vice-President.” She greeted, her voice bland.

“It's President now, actually lieutenant.” Zarek replied. “I was hoping to talk to you about a special council I'm organizing, to deal with the issue of the cylon collaborators without making a mess of it in the fleet's media. I know you were on the death list, and what you managed to do on the flats even given your.. injury. Given your experiences and reputation, I've decided to ask for your assistance in selecting six men and women to serve in a secret jury with yourself. If you should choose to accept my proposal.”

Faith takes a quick look up both ends of the corridor, confirming that there's no one eavesdropping. “And what happens to those that would be found guilty?”

Zarek looks his gaze with hers as he replies. “Same thing that would happen to any traitor or mutineer, execution.”

Faith is silent for several long moments before she gives her answer. “I think I could find a few people.”

“Good, good. I'll be in touch in a couple of days and we can get things set up proper. I assume that's enough time to find six that would be willing to participate?”

Faith gives a brief shrug. “Should be more than enough time. Have a nice day Mr. President.”

“You as well, Captain.” Zarek says as Faith turns to leave, his words giving her pause.

“It's Lieutenant, sir.” Faith turns her head to look at him, a bit confused.

“Not for long from what I've heard, actually Captain.”

~~~~~~~~~

Three days later, everything was in place and Faith had a job to do. She'd been following one of the collaborators known to have been responsible for human death on New Caprica.

“Hey Jimmy.” She greeted as she dropped into the seat across the table from James 'Jammer' Lyman in the makeshift mess hall, which was empty at the moment save for the two of them. “Damn. Hell of a gash ya got there.” She notes, flicking the pointer finger of her remaining hand at the bandaged wound on Jammer's forehead. “How that happen?”

Jammer gives her an embarassed look as gives a sheepish answer. “I-uh, I fell down.”

“Huh.” Faith taps her pointer against her chin. “Wasn't down a ravine, was it?

Her voice is icy, and he opens his mouth to speak but Faith's fist snaps out and connects with the side of his face. He falls to the floor and Faith jumps up from her seat as Connor and Seelix run in and working as one, the three quickly have the crewman collaborator bound, gagged and a sack is thrown over his head.

“Let's move out before anyone else comes around.” The soon to be promoted lieutenant orders, and motions for Seelix and Connor to move first, the pair dragging Jammer between them. Nightshade throws a look to the opposite entrance to ensure that it's still clear before she turns back to follow after them.

 

END OF INSURGENCY.

 

4\. Circle

 

THE CIRCLE

 

They'd led Jammer to one of the right portside launch tubes before Connor pulled the sack off his head and the gag from his mouth. 

The deckhand's eyes had been darting from member to member of the circle, going from right to left and taking in each familiar face, from Barolay and Sam to Seelix, Tigh, Connor, Faith and finally stopping on Tyrol, who looks away from his former friend with a disgusted look.

“Evidence for the following charges have been presented to the circle.” Seelix starts, glancing down at the clipboard held in front of her. “That you carried arms for the enemy. That you carried out multiple raids against the human population. And that, during one raid, twenty-three people were killed by you and your men during the assault on the temple.”

Faith watches dispassionately as Jammer begins to shake his head as Diana lists off his offenses, and finally bursts out. “It's not true.”

Nightshade takes a small step back in surprise as Connor suddenly moves to grab the sheet of paper from Seelix's clipboard before shoving it into Jammer's face.

“These are the names of the people killed by you and the men under you.” Connor snaps, and then grabs Jammer's face when he turns away. “You look at those names!”

“Connor.” Both Faith and Seelix say at the same time, and the grieving father gives Jammer a shove before backing off.

“The circle has examined the evidence and found you guilty of treason and crimes against humanity.” Seelix continues then asks the mandatory question. “Do you have anything to say in your defense before sentencing is passed?”

“I was trying to help people.” Faith rolls her eyes at the pleading tone in the deckhand's voice, and then her attention is drawn to Tigh as he scoffs.

“You didn't do a very good job, did you?” The colonel sneers, and Sam shakes his head.

“Let's just get this over with.” Anders complains.

“Wait, wait. I helped people. I helped lots of people.” Jammer is now openly begging and it takes all of Faith's restraint to not attack the simpering man. A moment later, Lyman's eyes flick to Galen. “Chief. Chief, I helped Cally. I saved Cally.”

“What?” Tyrol demands, his voice heavily laced with doubt.

“He's not lying.” Faith decides to interject, and the eyes of the rest of the circle fall on her. “He did help Cally escape.”

“Why didn't you say anything?” Tigh demands, and Faith turns a cold look on him.

“Does it matter in the end? There were forty-seven other prisoners that he still left to be shot by the centurions, not including myself. He knew full well what they were bringing us out there for, and did it without question.” Faith explained her reasoning for keeping secrets. “Maybe I'm embittered and even a little bit biased, but this changes nothing.”

“And my son. My son is on this list.” Connor agrees, holding up the list of people that died at the temple. “He helped murder twenty-three people, and it would have been dozens more if not for the dead-drop. So he saved Cally, does that make up for everything else this frak did?”

Galen glances back and forth between Faith and Connor for a moment before he takes the piece of paper from the latter and crouches down in front of Jammer.

“Jammer, did you do this?” Tyrol asks, trying to find some kind of redeeming value in his former friend. “Did you kill these people, and leave others to be killed?”

Jammer doesn't speak for a moment, shaking his head a couple times before finally opening his mouth.

“It was crazy down there Chief, you know that.” Jammer says, his voice tense. Faith zones out the rest of his words, already having made her vote in the matter. Her eyes wander for a moment, and then the sound of paper being crumpled draws her attention back to Tyrol as he starts to rise.

“No, it doesn't” Tyrol decides, turning to look at the rest of the circle before moving away from Jammer, his eyes hard.

“Under the articles, the punishment for treason is death. Sentence confirmed and carried out on this, the third day of the second exodus.” Seelix finished the mandatory process of reading out the verdict and punishment for collaborators.

Faith waits until the others start to move out of the launch tube, and falls into step behind Tyrol, leaving the condemned deckhand alone.

“Too much frakkin' talk.” She hears Sam mutter as the seven of them make their way into the launchtube control bay.

Faith comes to a stop in between Tyrol and Barolay as Jammer walks over to the window dividing them and begins to scream something over and over, but none of them can hear what it is with the intercom switched off. She doesn't miss the chief's utter refusal to even look at his former friend, and then Jammer's gone as Connor slams his hand down on the launch door activation button.

A few moments pass in silence before Connor breaks it. “My son. He was only seven years old.”

Faith turns to watch Seelix lead Connor out, and then falls into step behind Barolay as her lover also moves to leave.

~~~~~~~~~

“Lieutenant.” Tom Zarek gave a polite nod as Faith pulled open the hatchdoor to the storage closet that the temporary President had requested they meet in. “How are things progressing?”

“Thirteen guilty verdicts, and six cleared. Fifty-eight cases left, and all the sentences of all those found guilty have already been carried out.” Faith reports once she's deadbolted the door. 

Zarek gives another nod, a thoughtful look coming over his face befor he turns away for a moment.

“Keep up the speedy work Lieutenant, we need to have this finished in the next seventy-two hours.”

“Sir?” Faith inquires and Zarek turns back to look at her, giving a nod for her to continue. “Permission to ask if the rumors of Roslin intentions to reclaim the presidency have anything to do with the need for urgency?”

Zarek lets out a dry laugh before answering her question. “Yes. In the best of circumstance I would not turn down the chance to be President, but I'm not arrogant enough not to realize that I'm not the leader that the fleet needs. Laura Roslin is that person.”

Faith nods in understanding. “She won't have blood on her hands if we deal with it first.” She pauses for a moment and meets Zarek's eyes. “My father used to speak of you, he was military through and through, so the stories didn't quite have you in the best light.”

“Common enough, I've given the people plenty of reasons for indemnify me, plenty of bad decisions made and roads to hell paved with good intentions...” Zarek trails off.

“Even so, I had passed judgement on you before we'd even met, and maybe things have changed since those days, but I feel the need to apologize.”

“Apology accepted Lieutenant.” Zarek gives her a small smile. “If there's nothing else, I'll see you here tommorrow, same time?”

“Yes sir.”

~~~~~~~~~

“So you're absolutely certain that there's nothing to be done, then?” Faith asked Cottle as he finally finished his examination on the condition of her stumped wrist.

The doctor sighs heavily and pulls out a tin of cigarettes, taking one for himself before offering the tin to Faith, and the former pilot takes it. She presses it between her lips and then leans forward slightly as Cottle sparks his lighter.

“Not in the respect that it would ever allow you to pilot a viper again.” Cottle tells her with a bit of remorse. “If we were on Caprica with the proper instruments, I might have been able to set up up with a transplant, but what I have here is rudimentary in comparison. In addition the cauterization burned out your nerve endings so mobility would be twenty, twenty five percent at best. I'm sorry.”

“Nah Doc, don't worry about it.” Faith shakes her head. “I didn't have much hope in my chances anyhow.”

“I'm guessing Barolay badgered you into coming down then?” Cottle had become a fairly close friend to the pair during the year without the threat of the Cylons on New Caprica, and was one of maybe twenty people that knew of the true relationship between Nightshade and the civilian soldier.

“Yeah.” Faith mumbles out as she exhales the smoke from her lungs. 

“Well at least you know she cares.” Cottle points out, and Faith gives a nod before hopping off the infirmary bed. 

“I don't want to hold you up from your other patients, and I got somewhere I need to be soon.” Faith tells him, laying her cigarette in the ashtray on the corner table and grabbing her jacket. “One of these days we should get a drink, for old-times sake. I hear a couple of the civvies that stayed on Galactica opened up a bar in an unused cargo hold down toward the left portside's end. I think it's called Joe's.”

“Yeah I heard about it.” Cottle nods, taking a drag off his own cigarette as Faith reaches to pick hers up again. “I got a couple days off coming up, I might go have a look.”

“I'll keep an eye out then.” Faith promises, walking around the bed and making to leave. “Catch you later doc, thanks for trying.”

She doesn't wait for a reply as she strides out of the med-bay

~~~~~~~~

“We're going to have to pick up the pace on this.” Faith announces as she steps into the secluded room that the Circle had taken up residence in for their deliberations for the cases they'd been give to pass judgement on. She makes her way around the table to stand next to “Zarek wants this done with by the time he hands the office of the President back over to Roslin.”

“How long do we have?” Seelix asks, looking up from across the table from Faith, where she'd been perusing one of the files.

“As of now? Seventy hours.” Faith replies, wincing as the eyes of the present members of the Circle, which amounts to Seelix, Connor, Barolay and Anders, snap to her with the informing of the sudden time limit they'd have to work under.

“Three days?” Sam exclaims in disbelief. “We still have almost sixty of these to go through.”

“I know, and we're wasting time.” Faith retorts. “Where's Tigh and Tyrol, we need all of us here for this.”

“Adama called Tigh to the CIC, and Tyrol went to check on Cally and Nick.” Barolay tells her, and Faith gives a nod.

“I'll go see about Tigh, someone needs to go get Galen.” Faith instructs.

“I'll do it.” Seelix offers immediately. “I need to stretch my legs anyways.”

Faith nods and starts to leave, but stops and turns back to face Jean. She stands still for a moment, and then moves forward toward the redhead. Her good hand comes up to Jean's face and she leans her head in quickly to catch her lover's lips with her own, holding on for a couple seconds before pulling away.

“Thanks for sending me to talk to Cottle, he couldn't help but it let me move past this.. thing, and I needed the wake-up.” Faith whispers into Jean's ear, not caring what Seelix or Connor thought about the relationship between Nightshade and Barolay and she knew Sam was more than fine with it. “I'll be back in a few.”

She pulls away and quickly departs the room with Seelix following a moment afterward. 

The three remaining in the room are silent for a long moment before Connor breaks the silence.

“Well I guess that's a question I won't have to bother to ask.” He comments with a slight smile at Jean, who tilts her head in confusion.

“Huh?” She inquires, not sure what Connor is getting at.

“Before the cylons came back I was gonna ask Lehane about a date. Guess it wouldn't have mattered.”

“Oh.” Barolay replies, coloring slightly as Sam enjoys a quick laugh at her sudden discomfort. “Ass.” She throws at him, not even half-serious as she shakes her head and goes back to looking over the casefile laid out in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~

Faith had shown up at the CIC just moments after Gaeta, and had a front row seat to an angry tirade from the Colonel.

She leaned up against a support beam as she watched the exchange, her arms coming up to fold in front of her chest.

She'd looked away for a moment as a couple of the marines pushed past and snaps her eyes back as Tigh suddenly raises his voice.

“Hey! Look at me!” He yells at the former Tactical officer, who complies after a moment, albeit with a slightly dismissive look. “As long as you're here, maybe you can help me out.”

She watches as Tigh slowly walks toward Gaeta as he continues speaking. “I'm missing something. I lost it in detention, and since you're all buddy-buddy with the cylons, maybe you know where it is.”

At this point Tigh's face is inches from Felix's and his tone grows angrier with each word. “So how about it? Do you know where my eye is?!”

“SAUL!” all watching eyes snap to Adama as he enters the CIC with a yell at his longtime friend.

“Admiral.” Tigh acknowledges, immediately backing away from Gaeta as Adama makes his way over. 

“Walk with me.” Faith hears the Admiral tell Tigh, who agrees immediately and the pair of them pass by Faith as they head out to the corridor. 

The moment they're out of sight, Faith's eyes fall to Gaeta and finds him looking at her. 

Looking to rub a bit more salt into the wound, she adds her own sentiments to fuel the fire. “I'd ask about my hand, but I already know what happened to it.”

She sees the conflicted look on Helo's face and Gaeta's eyes falling to floor before she turns and walks out, hoping to catch up with Tigh before he disappeared.

~~~~~~~~

It was hours later that a specific case file catches Faith's undivided attention.

“Jaina Booth. Charges are collaborating with the enemy in a time of war, taking up arms against the human population and crimes against humanity.” Seelix read off a file and Faith quickly grabs the file from her to scan through it, her eyes shooting back and forth wildly as she reads the contents and witness statements.

“Son of a frakker.” Faith curses as the mystery as to who it was that had dropped the information that she'd been hoarding guns and where. “This is the bitch that gave me up, the reason I only have one hand.”

“Are you sure?” Tigh asks, his tone holding a dead seriousness. 

“She was there when I got taken, she admitted that much to Barolay.” Faith seethes, gripping the folder so tight it crumbles in her grip. “And according to this, she was one of the faceless NCP thugs from the start.” Faith finishes, throwing the file back onto the table.

“Good enough for me.” Connor shrugs. “I call the question. Guilty.”

“Guilty.” Faith echoes immediately following, and the other five agree soon after.

“Verdict is guilty. She's on the Gemenon Traveller.” Seelix notes, using a marker to draw a red line over Jaina's picture.

“The Foley's are over there.” Barolay says, her gaze on Faith, who gives a nod of agreement.

“We'll have them take care of her tonight, who's next?” Tigh asks, and all of them watch as Seelix pulls out the next case.

“Felix Gaeta. Crimes are collaborating with the enemy, and crimes against humanity.

Silence takes hold among them.

~~~~~~~~~

Faith, Tigh, Barolay, Seelix and Connor had all voted guilty after a lengthy discussion, but Sam had walked out on them when in the midst of the voting of innocence or guilt of Gaius Baltar's former chief of staff, saying he was done with the war, and Tyrol was holding out. Both Faith and Jean watched Sam go with a bit of regret.

“Okay that's fine, it's still 5-0 chief, what's your vote?” he'd said after Sam slammed the door behind him.

“No, wait a minute. We need seven votes.” Barolay spoke up, her arms folded in front of her as she stood next to Faith.

“Screw that.” Connor replied dismissively.

“No, screw you!” Tyrol all but exploded back. “We're a jury that was made to ensure the impossibility of a deadlock. We need seven like it was set up to be, if that's no longer the case here then I'm out too.”

“He's right, we need a seventh.” Tigh agrees, ending the debate. 

“Right, so any suggestions for a replacement then?” the former pilot asks the group, but no one answers. “Great.”

~~~~~~~~

Faith was a bit surprised when Seelix had come back to pitch Kara as Sam's replacement on the circle, and the blonde had voiced her doubts before Tigh called her to the question of whether or not she was willing to do this in the interest of justice rather then vengeance or spite.

“Are you in or out?” Saul asked, and Kara fixed him with a hard stare for a moment before she answered.

“In.” She intones as her eyes come up to meet Tigh's, and Faith can see the certainty in Starbuck's.

“Good. We've already been over the evidence, so take your time.”

Kara keeps eye contact for a moment longer and then looks down over the evidence that had been presented against Felix. She's silent for a moment as the others wait, and then speaks, her voice filled with a bit of shocked disbelief. “You're saying that Gaeta saw this list and didn't do a damn thing?”

“We have no idea what Gaeta did or didn't do when he saw it.” Tyrol replies, still holding out.

“Well he didn't try to stop it.” Faith mutters, drawing a hard look from the deck chief and the eyes of the others. “He was there at the detention center, watching as the trucks pulled out. He did nothing.”

“Gods, it's like a bad dream, only we woke up and the traitors were still here.” Kara spoke low as she came to her decision. “Guilty.”

“6-0 in favor of guilt. It has to be unanimous, chief?” Seelix notes, turning to face Galen. “We need your vote.”

Before Galen can respond a grinding noise draws the attention of all of the seven and they turn as the door pulls open to allow Anders to enter.

“Get out of here Sam.” Tigh ordered immediately, but Sam didn't turn back.

“I'd like to talk to my wife.” Faith doesn't miss how Sam deliberately keeps his gaze away from her and Jean, even as he comes to stand next to them as he addresses Kara, and can't help but feel a bit of resentment toward the former Pyramid player for walking away. “I'd like to do it now.”

“It's fine, we already have your vote.” Tigh comments, looking to clear Anders out as soon as possible so they could continue. Kara nods and follows Sam out.

“Don't take too long.” Faith mutters to Kara as she passes and the blonde gives a stiff nod before joining Sam outside, closing the door behind her.

“Okay, so back to the issue at hand.” She gets right back down to business. “Guilty or not, chief?”

“I..” The chief pauses and falls silent, still unable to make up his mind.

“He doesn't want to say guilty, because Gaeta is such a good guy, right chief?” Tigh questions, not stopping as Tyrol turns his stare on Tigh, not looking happy with the way things were developing. “Everyone likes Gaeta so let's let him off the hook, just look the other way. Well a lot of good people had to pay the price for what they did, because of the choices they made. Like Connor's son, Duck and Nora, Faith-”

“Don't put me in there just to make a point Colonel, I don't need or want the pity.” Faith interjects, and Tigh gives a curt nod as they lock eyes for a moment.

“Regardless, I could keep listing examples but we don't have the time.”

“Baltar did that, not Gaeta.” Tyrol still holds.

“It's the same godsdamn thing” Tigh curses in response.

“Too many people died because of them Chief.” Seelix adds, trying to bring the verdict to a close.

Tyrol looks amongst the other circle members and visibly deflates as he takes in the resolute looks in all of their eyes, and he knows he can't convince them otherwise.

“Fine.” He finally acquiences, his expression troubled. “Guilty.”

The room is uncomfortably silent afterwards.

 

Faith, Tigh, Barolay and Kara were already waiting outside the launch tube when Connor, Seelix and Tyrol arrived with Gaeta in tow. They waited until Connor had moved into the tube with Gaeta before following to stand in a half circle around him as Connor forces Felix to his knees and pulls off the sack and the gag from his mouth.

Gaeta coughs as the gag comes free and doubles over for a moment before his eyes flicker up to look amongst the faces of the circle.

“Felix Gaeta.” Seelix starts up the speech, and Faith turns away not really interested in hearing it again. “You've been tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity by a circle of your peers, as dually authorized by the President of the colonies.”

Gaeta looks up with a shocked look and then his gaze falls to the floor of the launch tube.

“If you have any words to offer in your defense, now's the time.” Seelix adds.

Faith watches Gaeta's eyes shift to Tyrol and the deck chief speaks up. “Come on Felix, talk. We'll listen.”

“Yeah, that's right. We'll listen to how hiding behind Baltar's skirt was your way of helping the insurgency.” Connor sneers.

“Enough!” Faith's sudden yell has Connor's attention and he throws his arms up with an exasperated look, but moves away just the same.

“Say something.” Barolay whispers as she stares down at Gaeta from where she stands next to Kara.

“No.” Gaeta refuses, and his head lifts up to lock eyes with Kara. “What's the point? I already tried to explain it. I am NOT gonna beg.”

“Shame you didn't grow that spine four months ago.” Tigh says dryly, and Gaeta looks at him for a moment before his gaze falls again.

Seelix is the first to turn, and Faith falls into step next to Tigh, the others following slowly.

“Beg.” Nightshade turns as Kara gets in Gaeta's face, repeating it twice more, with the last louder than the first two and with the added effect of Starbuck kicking her leg out at the bound collaborator.

“Thrace-” Tigh starts but Kara turns her angry eyes on him, stopping him short.

“No! Beg!” She demands, turning back to face Felix. “Come on, tell 'em how you were actually working for the Resistance the entire time. Tell 'em about all the important information you were giving up. About all the messages and the dog bowl and anything else just tell them!”

“What?” Everyone turns to Tyrol as he suddenly turns and hurries back over to where Gaeta is kneeling to crouch down in front of him. “What did she say, what did you tell her?!” he demands urgently. “Tell me, what did you say to her?”

Gaeta throws a look around the Circle members around him, before his eyes fall to Tyrol and he speaks.

“There was a yellow dog bowl. It was a signal, meant there was a message in the garbage dump.” Faith's eyes bore into Tyrol as he puts his hand to his face and stands up to face the others.

“Give me your knife, Faith.” He requests and Faith throws him a look of disbelief, but complies nonetheless.

“What are you doing?” Tigh questions as Galen uses Faith's knife to cut through Gaeta's bindings.

“Chief?” Kara looks just as confused.

“There was a yellow dog bowl.” Tyrol reveals, holding out Faith's knife for her, and she takes it back quickly. “I used it.”

Faith lets out a low curse as Galen continues, and takes her knife back as he holds it out.

“We were wondering who the source was Colonel. There's no other way he could've known.” Tyrol intones, motioning at Gaeta, still kneeling on the floor. “He's the only other one who would have known about it. He's the reason we got the death lists, why I saved Cally, why we're on this ship. He's the one who gave us the inside information.” Tyrol trailed off as he tossed the cut zip-tie to the ground in the middle of it, and Faith's eyes follow it's descent. “Here's our source, Colonel.”

“I did what I could.” All eyes are now on Gaeta as he rises and begins to make his way past the members of the Circle out of the launch tube. “I don't know what else I could have done.”

Kara and Connor walk out after, heading in the opposite direction, and leaving the other five alone.

“Frak.” Faith curses before storming out herself, deciding that she really needs a drink.

~~~~~~~~

“It's over.” Barolay says when Faith finally returns to the bunk that they were sharing a couple hours later. “Zarek contacted Tigh and called it off. I guess Roslin and Adama found out.”

“Perfect.” Faith mutters as she sits down next to the redhead. “So how bad did the Admiral chew Saul out?”

“He didn't. Zarek flat out refused to give up our names.” Barolay replies, her own voice low.

“Doesn't matter. If Gaeta talks, then the only one to walk away from this scot-free will be Sam.” Faith says as she pulls herself further into the bunk until her back is pressed to the wall. “Guess he's smarter than the rest of us.”

“Or he's just gone soft.” Barolay points out, and Faith throws her a look. “Hey, I'm not turning on him or anything, but you know as well as I do that he wouldn't have walked away if this was right after the Occupation.”

“Well we can hardly blame Kara for that. He deserves as much as any of us to be happy, same with her.” Faith shrugs as she pulls out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out and lighting it between her lips. 

Barolay is silent for a moment as she thinks things over. “Did the Foleys at least get a chance to get to Booth?”

“Yeah, I spoke with Ava twenty minutes ago.” Faith replies and Jean gives a nod before leaning her head against Nightshade's shoulder.

“Well, at least you got justice for what happened.” The redhead murmurs as the lovers sit side by side.

“Yeah, guess there is that.” Faith whispers, not sure that she believes it anymore as she lets her eyes drift closed.

~~~~~~~~~  
END CIRCLE ARC  
~~~~~~~~~  
5\. Infection 1/?

~~~~~~~~~  
INFECTION 1/?  
~~~~~~~~~

“Admiral?” Faith's voice was low as she stepped into Adama's quarters, pulling the door shut behind her as she turned to face further into the residence. “Sir?” 

“In here, Lieutenant.” She hears Adama call from the adjoining room, and she quickly crosses the distance to the door that seperated the entry-room to what she found to be Adama's personal office, and she spots him sitting behind a desk. She quickly snaps to attention just past the threshold, and her right hand comes up to salute the commanding officer.

He looks up as she enters and motions with his right hand at one of the chairs opposite him. “At ease. Have a seat.”

Nightshade complies without question, coming up to the front of the desk before dropping onto the seat, pulling her arms up to rest in her lap, her stump covered by the palm of her remaining hand

“What can I do for you sir?” Faith asks, her eyes meeting the Admiral's.

“The past week since the exodus of New Caprica has been trying, to say the least.” Adama says, and Faith can hear a slight strain in the man's voice. 

“Yes, sir.” She agrees with a curt nod.

“Certain... information of recent events have come to light over the past few days, and I am afraid that if such things continue as they have, that it will cause a rift in the fleet. This cannot be allowed.” Adama tells her, his voice tight. “I need to have officers that I can trust to not run off their own agendas, or that follow the agendas of others despite how much power or the reputation that they may hold. I trust you still understand the importance of the remnants of humankind to remain unified.”

Faith nods slowly, a fair idea of what the Admiral is referring to. “Of course sir.”

“I need you to be honest with me here.” Adama pauses for a moment before continuing. “Did you serve on a secret council known as the Circle, to judge the innocence or guilt of suspected Cylon collaborators?”

Faith looks down at the ground for a long moment, and then brings her eyes up to meet the Admiral's again. “Yes. I did, sir. There were things that happened down there that needed to be answered for.”

Adama nods gravely, knowing full well that things like this occurred in war-times of the past.

“I appreciate your honesty. I'm hoping that things like this won't happen in the future?” he asks her, and Faith nods slowly.

“Not that I would be involved with sir.” Nightshade replies. “I was aware that my actions would have consequences and I'm ashamed to say that I let anger and vengaence guide my motives. I know now that it was wrong.”

Adama is silent for a moment. “Do you hold me responsible?”

Faith is confused now, and voices such. “Sir? Why would I hold you responsible?”

“Colonel Tigh and Captain Thrace seem to.” Adama informs her with a heavy voice, and Faith nods. She'd heard about the confrontation between the three from Racetrack.

“I don't, sir.” Nightshade assures him. “What happened to me on New Caprica would have happened regardless of who was in charge of the fleet.”

“How do you mean?” Adama voices his own confusion, as he'd not been informed by anyone as to the exactly how and why Faith had lost her hand.

“That cylon that was on Caprica with the resistance, Cavil. I made the mistake of telling him a long time ago that the only thing I was truly good at was being a pilot.” Faith reveals to the fleet commander. “When I got arrested by those NCP goons and brought to detention, several of the others wanted to kill me to send a message, but Cavil thought that it would turn me into a martyr and drive more to join the insurgents. I can't say for sure, but I think that's how Tigh survived as well, at least at first. Instead Cavil decided to take my hand as punishment, to assure I'd never fly a viper again.”

She pauses for a moment before finishing her explanation. “In the end it didn't matter, and I was sent with nearly fifty others on a death list to be shot by the Centurions.”

“That I heard about.” Adama says. “Chief Tyrol told me that it was partially due to your heroics that no one died in Pergamus Flats.”

“If you don't count the NCP members, yes.”

Adama is silent for a few moments as Faith waits, shifting a bit uncomfortably.

“As you well know, there were several thousand lost on New Caprica, and some of them were officers on both Galactica and Pegasus, and they'll need to be replaced.” Adama informs the disabled pilot. “Karl Agathon has my ear on this, and your name was on the short list to fill the gaps left by their deaths. I'm well aware that a pilot thrives off action, and so I'm offering you a ranking postion in the Marine contingent attached to the flight deck, to keep you in the fight. With such, you'll be assigned your own quarters.”

“It'd be an honor sir, thank you.” Faith says after a moment of silence, and she gives Adama a shaky smile as he pulls out a small box and slides it across the surface of the desk to her, flipping it open before pulling his hand away.

“Then congratulations Captain.” Adama says as Faith eyes lock onto the rank pins that rest within the box. “Go report to your post. Dismissed.”

Faith gives a thankful nod as she takes the box off the desk and salutes once more before departing the Admiral's quarters, her spirits lifted considerably.

~~~~~~~~

Of course she would get a promotion and re-assignment just in time for Racetrack and Athena to discover a broken down Cylon baseship on a recon mission to the Lion's Head Nebula. She'd got on board the second of the three Raptors making the second trip under the operational command of Lee Adama.

“We're clear.” She looked up as Racetrack spoke up from the pilot's seat, and caught sight of the powered down Baseship as the Raptor passed the last of the cylon raiders that were floating aimlessly in front of the landing bay.

A few moments later they've touched down and Faith takes a moment to re-adjust her helmet as the hatch opens and she steps out onto the wing, then down to the floor of the Cylon warship.

A couple dozen others disembark between the raptor that she'd come in on and the other three on the op.

She holds her rifle at the ready, using her stumped elbow to hold up the barrel, as they secure the seemingly abandoned landing deck. She relaxes a couple moments later as the all clear is signalled through out the assembled soldiers.

Nightshade falls into step behind Hotdog and Raygun as Sharon begins to lead the way towards the bridge of the baseship, and gives Anna a nod as the younger woman falls into step beside her.

The scene in the central command is grim. Well it would have been if the bodies that littered the floor were humans. 

“Gods.” She hears someone mutter, and Faith is fairly sure it was Sharon. She couldn't say for sure as her gaze has been drawn to one of the Cavil's, sitting half slumped against a wall a few yards from her.

Before she even realizes it, Faith finds herself approaching the seemingly dead Cylon. She swings her rifle over her shoulder and pulls out her handgun as she steps up close to the body. Her face moves close to examine her former torturer and jailer as she crouches down in front of him. Her attention is drawn away a moment later and she turns as Sharon speaks up from where she's standing at whatever the device in the middle of the bridge was.

“The data points are almost completely corroded. I'm not sure what I'll get out of here, but I'll try.” The Colonial Cylon announces to the group, and she vaguely hears Lee mutter something before all hell breaks loose.

One of the other marines, Corgan, if she remembered right had been checking the prone body of one of the sixes laid out on the floor when he suddenly threw himself backwards, screaming that the six was alive.

Her eyes snap to Cavil and widen as she finds him staring back at her, a snarl on his lips. She lets out a shocked cry as his hands shoot out and wrap around her neck as he tries to strangle her. Thankfully whatever happened here had seemed to weaken him, and Faith slams the butt of her handgun against the side of his head, knocking him away from her to sprawl on the ground.

Her gun is immediately aimed at the fake priest's head as he coughs and rolls onto his back, and she can see Anna and Hotdog in the corner of her vision as they come up to take aim on the Cavil as well.

“Hold your fire!” She frowns as Lee suddenly yells out, repeating it a couple times to ensure that everyone can hear it over the eruption of chaos.

“They're alive!” Someone else yells.

“Frak.” She curses, taking advantage of the chaos that was winding down to kick Cavil in the face with her boot, fully knocking him unconscious, or whatever the cylon equivalent was. Powered down, maybe. 

Her gaze moves back to Lee as he speaks again, calling Galactica on the communicator he's holding before him. “Galactica, Apollo. We got- uh, five living skin-jobs down here.”

“Six.” Faith corrects, drawing the major's gaze and giving a nod at the Cavil at her feet.

“Correction, six.” Lee gives her a nod before continuing his report to the Admiral and the rest of the CIC staff. “I say again, six. Six living.”

Faith zones out for a couple moments as her gaze falls upon the downed Cavil once more and finally her eyes break away as Mathias suddenly reacts to something Sharon had said.

“Son of a bitch!” The Marine who held the same rank as Faith curses, and then Lee reacts as well.

“OK. OK. OK! Settle down!” The major orders with a yell as pandemonium threatens to rise amongst the pilots and marines again. “Keep back, watch the doorways, get those doorways!”

Faith doesn't need be told twice, backing away from the Cavil with disgust on her face. She slowly glances to Anna, and finds the viper pilot shaking slightly where she's standing a couple feet away.

~~~~~~~~

They'd evacuated the baseship with six extra passengers, the Admiral both wanting to see if any information could be extracted from the doomed cylon prisoners, and to find out the exact nature of the disease the skinjobs had contracted from the beacon that supposedly marked the way to Earth.

Their departure had been just in time, it seemed. The Raptor she was in suddenly shook with the force of the blast that just went off behind them, as the baseship exploded and caught them in the concussive wave that followed.

Nightshade stumbled a bit, falling against the side of the Raptor shoulder first, before she managed to right herself.

“What was that?” She questions the other occupants, including Anna, who'd switched rides with Raygun for the return trip to Galactica.

It's Helo that answers the question, over the wire from Galactica, although he's speaking more to Lee, in the Raptor being piloted by the current X-O's wife. 

“Baseship exploded. Looked like it self-destructed.” Faith hears Karl's slightly garbled voice coming from the console speakers in the cockpit.

The remainder of the trip back is uneventful and thankfully, and as the Raptor comes to a stop in the landing back on Galactica, she grabs the Cavil by the front of his shirt. By the time the hatch opens to allow them out, she has the cylon on his feet and shoves him through the threshold onto the wing, and then towards the two men in radiation suits that come up.

She waits a moment to allow them to get clear before hopping down off the wing herself, standing still on the deck as she watches more people in the suits come up to the gathered Raptors, and turns as Anna comes up to stand next to her, and passes the Leoben off to a different pair than the ones that took Cavil.

“Okay, listen up everyone!” She hears Cottle's voice call amidst the crowd that was growing. “Everyone that was on the baseship needs to report to the quarantine that has been set up in the med-bay. Follow me please.”

Faith lifts her arm to give Anna's shoulder a comforting squeeze with her good hand as she sees the fear reflected in her friend's eyes.

“We'll be alright.” She hears herself saying, but even to her the words sound hollow. 

Anna nods anyways.

~~~~~~~~

It had been nearly twelve hours, according to Faith's wristwatch, and the quarantined pilots and marines were beginning to get stir-crazy from being held in such close quarters with the possibility of sickness and death.

Currently she was laid out on the top of one of the metal bunks, trying to get a bit of sleep, and half listening to the chatter amongst the others. After a bit longer, an outburst from Hotdog draws her attention.

“Kiss my infected ass.” Costanza snaps at Racetrack, who merely smirks in response.

“You can kiss it, but it's not infected.” Cottle jokes dryly as he steps up to the table the two viper pilots are sitting at, and Faith pulls herself up into a sitting position atop the bunk, her interest in the doctor's findings clear with the hopeful expression that comes over her face. A quick glance around tells her that all the rest share the same hope. 

“I got your bloodwork back.” The doc continues, glancing around the quarantine as he speaks. “Humans are immune to the virus. You're all healthy.”

A brief cheer fills the room, and Faith finds herself adding her own elation to the collective as she hops down from the top bunk, her boots making a clunk sound as they land on the metallic floor.

“All right, people. Nice job, let's get out of here.” She hears Lee say from across the room, and complies with no small amount of eagerness, falling into step behind Anna and Feline, a pilot who'd been flying one of the Raptors for the baseship op, as Racetrack leads the exodus out of the quarantine.

~~~~~~~~

Faith had just finished packing up the last of her belongings into her duffel in the pilot's rack when she looked up in time to see Barolay and Sam as they came in. 

“Heard you got the all-clear.” Anders intones, his voice light as both he and Jean walk over, and Faith finds herself pulled into a three-way hug, which lasts a couple moments. 

Faith gives a nod as they finally pull apart, her eyes moving from Anders to her lover with a smile coming over her face.

“Yeah, Cottle says that humans aren't affected by the disease.” Nightshade informs the pair, and grabs up her bag from the bed.

“Any clue as to what it is?” Jean asks, grabbing her own bag from where she'd had it stashed under the table that ran down the center of the room. Just before she'd left for the basestar, Adama had sent a PFC to inform her that her quarters would be ready upon her arrival and she'd had just enough time to inform Jean of her moving plans before they'd left for the op.

Nightshade shakes her head negatively in response to her lover's question. “If Cottle knows, he didn't tell us. Just that we were clean.”

“Well thank gods for small miracles huh?” Anders grins. “Amount of shit you get into, you gotta have the best luck out of anyone in the fleet.”

“Kinda doubting luck has anything to do with it.” Faith says dryly, but retains her smile nonetheless. “Feel like coming to check out my new place?”

“Not much else to do.” Anders agrees with a shrug as he steps back so Faith can pass.

“You and Kara still having issues?” the former pilot asks, her tone sympathetic as she steps past, swinging her duffel over her shoulder as she makes for the door.

“Yeah.” Anders answers a bit dully as he and Jean follow after her, and the three begin the trek through the hallways of the ship. “She's been full of rage since we got off New Caprica, and I'm doubtful that it's gonna end anytime soon.”

“She'll come around Sam.” Faith hears Jean say from the other side of the former Pyramid star, but he shakes his head.

“I'm not so sure. Leoben really frakked with her in the detention center.” Sam revealed, his tone heavy. “Worst is she won't even tell me what exactly happened.”

They fell into an uneasy silence following that, slowly making their way to the quarters that Faith had been assigned with her new rank. As they walked, Faith made plans to find Kara and maybe beat some sense into her. Anders had been one of her best friends for nearly two years now, and there was no way that she was going to let the blonde take out her frustration on him. Not after everything that they'd been through together. 

~~~~~~~~

She was dreaming, Faith knew she had to be if the fact she had both her hands was any indication.

As she pushed open the door to the apartment and stepped into the sun-lit foyer, she couldn't help but feel as if she'd been there before. It seemed familiar, almost like home.

She leaves the door ajar as she crosses the room to come up to the large half-circle window on the south side, looking out over the street below for a few moments before closing her eyes. Faith can feel the heat of the sun shining down upon her face, and smiles slightly as it's warmth spreads over her.

Suddenly the warmth and sunlight is gone, and Faith opens her eyes to find that the sky has turned blood red, and she blinks a couple times at the startling change.

“Welcome back Faith.” She whirls around at the feminine voice that speaks up from behind her, and her eyes dart from end to end of the apartment, finding no one there.

“Hello?” She calls out, taking a few steps away from the window and then lets out a scream as it suddenly explodes inward, the glass shards hitting her with the force of multiple bullets and knocking her from her feet.

~~~~~~~~

Faith snaps up in the bed, her face covered in a glistening sheen of sweat, with the dim light from the half-powered lamp in the corner reflecting off it. Her breath is heavy as she reaches up with her good hand to run through her dampened hair with a soft groan.

She didn't know why the dream had caused her to get so worked up, although she supposed that there could have been more to it locked away in her subconscious somewhere.

A glance to the other side of the bed lets her know that whatever night terrors she'd endured in dreams hadn't disrupted Barolay from her sleep, the redhead's back was turned to her as she snored lightly. Faith pulled back the bedsheets from her body and shifted around so she was sitting on the edge for a moment before slowly rising to her feet.

She ambles into the bathroom with a bit of effort, her footsteps sluggish from obvious fatigue. She reaches the sink and flips on the faucet, leaning down as she fills her hand to lessen the distance as she cups it before bringing it up to splash the water onto her face. 

She keeps her head down for a moment as she rubs her hand against her face to spread the refreshing coolness over her visage.

Finally she brings her head back up, only to throw herself backwards with a short cry that she stifles by clamping her hand over her mouth.

“Faith? What's going on?” She hears Jean call out from the bedroom, her lover's voice sounded worried. Faith shakes her head for a moment to clear it before stepping into the doorway.

“Nothing.” The ex-pilot claims, her voice a bit shaky. “Remembered a particularly bad dream is all. Go back to sleep.”

Barolay holds her gaze for a moment and Faith can see the worry in the eyes of the redhead. “I'm fine, really.”

She feels a bit of relief as Jean nods, and Faith slowly makes her way back over to the bed and gets in again, hoping like hell that she's not losing her mind.

But then again, what other explanation could there be for the blue-eyed, blonde woman that she'd seen staring back at her from within the mirror for half a second?

~~~~~~~~

Far, far away from where Faith lay in her bed with Barolay as the two women went back to sleep for the night, a door that leads into another dimly lit room slowly opens to allow entrance to a figure clad in an emerald robe, identity obscured by the hood pulled over their head. 

The previously lone occupant of the room looks up from the chair in the corner, their face obscured in the shadows as the newcomer comes to a stop several feet from where the first sits.

“You're late.” the seated figure states to the other, who gives a dismissive shrug.

“If you expect an apology, you can shove it up your ass. I know what you did.” The newcomer replies, voice filled with a bit of an accusatory tone. “Faith finally gets some semblance of normalcy back in her life, and you take now of all times to throw a wrench in the works. She wasn't supposed to remember until Earth, that was the agreement.”

“If you thought I really had a choice in the matter, you're sadly mistaken.” The seated figure replies, voice heavy. “Certain things have been brought to my attention that I wasn't aware of during the original series of events that transpired here.”

“What are you talking about Whistler?” the emerald robed figure demands of the immortal balance demon, moving a bit closer so he has a clear view of her angry green eyes.

“The First has come back, and if Faith can't stop it for good this time... Then it will truly mean the end of all things.” Whistler says as he rises from his seat to face the other eye to eye. “I'm sorry, Dawn.”

The entity that had long ago been known to the universe as Dawn Summers doesn't reply as she continues to stare at the former messenger of the old gods, a frown creeping over her face.

“This changes things then.” She finally admits begrudgingly. “We'll need to gather the others.”

Whistler gives a short nod of agreement. “Best that you do that, last time I saw your sister she made it very clear that she'd disembowel me if she ever saw me again.”

“Well you can hardly blame her, I'm not all that happy to be here either.” Dawn replies with her displeasure evident in the tone she uses. “I'll talk to them.”

“That's all I ask.”

~~~~~~~~  
6\. Infection 2/2

~~~~~~~~  
INFECTION, PART 2  
~~~~~~~~

Faith woke up to the sound of a shrill ringing coming from the phone by her desk, and a glance to her left lets her know that Barolay is already absent from their quarters, presumably having left for work herself. She quickly pulls the sheets off and rises out of the bed to stride over to the communication device, picking it up from the cradle and bringing it level with her face.

“Lehane.” She says into the reciever, figuring that it's the Admiral or someone in the CIC with an update or orders, so she's surprised when she hears Doc Cottle respond on the other end.

“I got some good news. How soon can you get down to the infirmary?” The ranking Medical officer inquires, his voice lighter than Faith's last couple interactions with him.

“Five, ten minutes, why?” the Marine Captain answers with her own question.

“It's a surprise.” Cottle says and Faith blinks a couple times as the call disconnects abruptly.

She quickly throws on her uniform and boots before departing from her rooms, making sure to close the door securely behind her.

The former pilot arrives at the infirmary roughly eight minutes later and looks around for the doc, eyes flickering amongst the patients as she walks through the medical bay.

“Lehane!” She turns as her name rings out to her left and spots Cottle standing by one of his laid up patients, and adjusts her direction to make her way over.

“What's the good word doc?” Nightshade asks as she comes to a stop a few feet away.

“I suppose today it would be prosthetic.” Cottle tells her with a chuckle and her eyes widen with a bit of hope shining through.

“I thought you couldn't find anything that would fit?” She questions, not wanting to be let down again.

“On Galactica, I couldn't.” Cottle replies, turning to grab a box off the table behind him. “I put the word out to the other medical officers in the fleet and Doc Travers on the Pyxis was able to dig this up out of their storage.”

Faith takes the box as Cottle holds it out, and using her stumped arm to cradle it against her chest, she uses her good hand to flip open the top. A bright smile comes over her face as she reaches in to pull out the realistically designed plastic hand within.

She lets the box drop to the floor as she slides her stumped wrist into the hollow part, and tightens the bit on the end so it won't come loose.

“How's the fit?” Cottle asks as she holds up the artificial limb now attached at her wrist to her face as she examines it closer.

“Bit loose, but it's better than nothing. Thanks a bunch doc.” Nightshade replies, turning her smile on the aging medic.

“Glad to help.” Cottle says, breaking out of his standstill to walk around Faith as one of the other medics calls out for him. “I gotta go take care of this, and I'm sure you have places to be.”

“I do.” Faith agrees, glancing down at her watch. “Meet me down at Joe's tonight and first rounds on me. Least I can do.”

Cottle turns to face her for a moment to nod a quick confirmation before continuing on to see what the other medic needed. She watches him go for a moment, then turns and heads back the way she'd come, her hands hanging at her sides as she moves and a smile on her face.

~~~~~~~~

She'd been on her way towards her post on the launch deck when she passed by Helo and Gaeta, the former stopping to speak with her as Baltar's former chief-of-staff gives her a dark look as he continues on, picking up his pace to more or less stomp away. Both Faith and Karl watch him go before the XO turns a confused look on Faith, not having missed the other man's sudden change of expression.

“What was that about?” Helo asks, having not heard about the Circle.

“Long story.” Faith replies vaguely. “I don't want to talk about it.”

Helo looks like he wants to press the issue for a moment before he shakes his head slightly. “Fine. Just don't let whatever it is cause problems, we have more than enough as is.”

“Wasn't planning on making it any worse than it already is.” Faith replies, her voice tinged with the slightest bit of guilt as she turns to watch Gaeta depart, catching his back for a couple seconds before he disappeared around a corner. When he's gone, she turns back to face Helo again. “I don't suppose you've heard anything about what the Admiral plans to do with the cylon prisoners?”

She is taken slightly aback by the dark look that comes over Karl's face, and watches as he takes a look down both ends of the corridor before his eyes flicker back to meet hers.

“Lee came up with a plan, and the old man agreed. They're going to jump the ship into a Cylon supply line to draw the fleet and then execute the prisoners so they upload in the resurrection ship and infect the rest with the disease. If it works then there's a good chance the Cylons will be wiped out for good.”

“Well, I ain't gonna lose any sleep over it.” Nightshade replies with a shrug.

“Faith, that's genocide.” Helo seems a bit strained as he speaks, and she fixes him with an incredulous look.

“What the hell do you call the attack on the colonies?” She snaps, and then gives a quick look down both end of the hallway. She lowers her voice as she turns back to speak again. “Did you know that they burned the bodies in trenches, piled on top of eachother. I saw children in those trenches, dead kids who'd never lifted as much as a finger, let alone a gun at a cylon. And how many more on New Caprica?”

“Doesn't make it right.” Helo argues.

“This is war Karl, nothing is right. All that matters now is survival. Our survival.” Faith retorts, her voice angry. She pauses for a moment as she sees the confliction in her friend's eyes. “It's about Sharon, isn't it?”

She's not surprised at his nod, and can almost see the gears turning in his head.

“I need your help.” She shakes her head at his next words.

“No. Not this time Helo, I can't.” Nightshade refuses flat-out. “I won't stop you from doing whatever you feel that you have to do, and I'm not going to tell anyone but I don't want any part of it.”

“Faith.” She shakes her head at the pleading tone, and looks down at the floor for a moment.

“I'm sorry.” She makes eye contact for a moment, then turns and continues down the hall, leaving the XO to watch her go.

~~~~~~~~

“All personnel report to action stations. Condition one.” echoed through the launch deck, Gaeta's voice sounded through the intercom system that was wired throughout the battlestar.

“Alright, let's get these birds in the tubes!” Faith looks up from where she'd been sitting on the wing of a Raptor with Anna, Seelix and Cally as the women enjoyed lunch. She drops off the edge as Racetrack runs over to make her pre-flight prep and the other three follow Faith's lead.

“See you shortly.” Anna promised as she'd tossed the remnants of her meal into a metal barrel and took off at a run as she headed for her Viper on the other end of the launch bay. 

Faith watches her go, and then gives a nod as Cally and Seelix hurry off as duty calls. She watches them go as well and then turns to make her way towards her quarters, having little to do as the op wouldn't require her.

She's halfway there when she feels the sudden lurch that comes with an FTL jump, and a look of confusion comes over her face as she braces herself against the wall.

“Shouldn't have been that fast.” She mutters as she rights herself and starts walking again, this time with a bit more speed.

She runs into Erin Mathias shortly there-after, as her fellow marine captain comes up the opposite hall, an angry look on her face.

“What happened?” the former pilot asks the irate older woman.

“Someone sabatoged us, sucked the oxygen out of the brig that we had the cylon prisoners in.” Mathias grits out, sounding as if she'd like to kill whoever'd done it. “We weren't in range of the resurrection ship when it happened. They didn't pass the virus.”

“Frak.” Faith curses, her own eyes narrowing in anger as she realizes who the sabatuer must have been. “Did they catch the person that did it?”

Mathias shakes her head in the negative. “If I do, they're gonna have a lot to answer for. We could have ended this.”

Faith nods as the other woman continues on down the hall, and then she finds herself staring at the wall of Remembrance for a moment before resuming her own trek.

“Gods damn it Helo.”

~~~~~~~~

In the end she'd kept her suspicions to herself, knowing that Helo was far too valuable to the ship, and that there was a good chance that Adama wouldn't believe her if she said something. Even so, this was too much for her to deal with and she needed to speak with the man in question.

Which was how she'd ended up at the door that led into the quarters assigned to the Agathons, immediately bringing her fist up to bang on the metal barrier.

Her 'knocking' is answered a moment later as she hears the grinding of the deadbolt as it pulls free and the door opens inwardly, and she finds herself face to face with Sharon. A quick look past the woman reveals Karl standing in the middle of the room, and she wastes no time entering.

“We gotta talk.” She says demandingly as she steps past Athena, and Karl gives a reluctant nod. The look in his eyes tells her all she needs to know.

“Close the door Sharon.” he requests and his wife quickly reseals the door. The XO waits until it's secure before speaking. “Faith, look..”

“No.” She shakes her head, a bit defiantly. “I know why you did what you did, and I understand, but this is too much.”

“Are you going to tell Adama?” She turns as Sharon speaks up behind her, and her eyes linger on the cylon for a long moment before coming back to regard Helo, who's eyes hold the same question.

“No, I'm not. I gave Karl my word I wouldn't, even though I didn't know exactly what he was planning to do.” Nightshade finally says, her voice tense. “But this is the only time I'll cover for you, either of you. We were friends, Helo. But I can't trust you anymore.”

“Faith-” Helo starts, but she cuts him off. 

“Not this time Karl.” Faith shakes her head as she turns away to go back to the door. She stops at the threshold and turns back to face him again. “You were lucky on Caprica, even on the run. You didn't have to watch friend after friend fall to their bullets, didn't have to make false promises day after day that you'd get everyone out of the occupation alive. You didn't see what they did to us on New Caprica. We had a chance to finish it, so that everyone left would be safe, wouldn't have to live in fear anymore, and you took that away. I can't forgive that, I'm sorry.”

She doesn't give Helo a chance to reply before pulling the door open and storming out, letting it hang open behind her as she strides away.

~~~~~~~~

By the time she drops onto the barstool at Joe's, the need for a heavy drink is nearly consuming.

“Whiskey, straight up.” She orders gruffily, and the bartender gives a brief nod of his head before moving away to get her a glass of the requested liquor. A couple moments pass and then a glass full of the alcohol is set down in front of her, the clink of the glass on the wood counter seeming to echo as she reaches to take it in her good hand.

She takes a deep pull and winces as her throat burns, emptying about a third of the glass' contents before setting it back down and pulling out a cigarette. She lifts the cancerstick to her lips and lights it with the torch lighter she took out of the pocket of her pants.

“Given how you looked when you left the infirmary, gonna go out on a limb and guess it must have been a real bad day.” She looks up as Cottle drops onto the stool next to her and motions for the bartender.

“Yah got no idea doc.” the former pilot replies dryly, taking another drag off her cigarette. “Just had one of those life realizations.”

“Care to share the wisdom?” Cottle asks as the barkeep brings over a scotch.

“Don't put your faith in people, cause sooner or later they're gonna let you down.” Nightshade quips darkly and Cottle gives a curt nod in reply.

“Ah, one of those.” he says before taking a pull off his scotch. “Is it Jean?”

“No. It doesn't matter who, I just want to forget.” Faith replies, and downs another quarter of her remaining whiskey.

“We should all be so lucky.”

~END INFECTION ARC~  
7\. Ancient Tribes

This chapter skips ahead 2 episodes of canon (I'm going with 4 weeks) and picks up midway through Passage, and goes through Eye of Jupiter.

 

ANCIENT TRIBES

 

Faith looked up from where she was sitting behind the desk in her quarters as Barolay pushed open the door and stepped in, giving the marine captain a wide smile. She'd going over a report that one of her subordinates had written up in regards to a discharge of his firearm on Tyrol's launch deck, nearly killing one of the crewmen, and was currently cooling his heels in the brig until the Admiral decided otherwise.

“What's got you so happy?” She asks as she picks up the report and puts it in the drawer.

“Rumor is that Athena found the planet that the thirteenth tribe had originally settled.” Barolay replies as she drops down into one of the chairs on the other side of the desk.

“Yeah, I heard.” Faith replies with a shrug. “Adama wants me to take charge of the marines that are going planetside.”

“You don't sound too eager about it.” the redhead notes as Faith turns away to grab the bottle of rum she'd bought off one of the bartenders at Joe's a few days earlier.

“I guess I'm not.” Faith admits as she uncorks the bottle and fills two glasses, sliding one across the desk for her lover. “Given the events of the last two times we've been planetside, can you blame me?”

“No, I can't.” Barolay answers as she takes the glass in hand, lifting it up to take a pull as Faith does likewise. “So what are you going to do then?”

“I'm going, orders are orders and truth be told I've felt this overwhelming desire for some action despite everything.” Nightshade says as she sets her glass back onto the surface. 

“Then I'm coming with you.” Barolay says decisively, and with a look into her lover's eyes Faith knows that she won't be dissuaded. In all honesty, she wanted people she knew she could trust by her, and the list seemed to grow shorter each day.

~~~~~~~~

Louanne Katraine was dead, and as Faith took a seat at the funeral being held in the landing deck in between Bodie and Jean, she silently wished that she'd taken time to get to know the other woman better. 

Racetrack was speaking about her longtime friend at the podium that had been set up, recalling how brave the departed had been, even going as far as to consciously sacrifice herself to bring one of the missing fleet ships through a radiation storm. 

She zoned a bit as the raptor pilot continues her speech, her mind wandering as the faces of all her dead friends popped up in her mind's eye and a tear rolls down the side of her face.

She felt Barolay take her good hand in her own and fixes the redhead with a small smile before she turns to watch Racetrack step away from the podium to allow Kara to take her place.

Her eyes shift down the row past Bodie, her gaze falling on Sam and Ten-Point where they sit at the end, and they narrow at the look of longing on the former's face as he watches Starbuck speak about how much Kat had done and sacrificed in the name of Humanity's survival. 

It seemed that unlike Tigh and Adama, there were still some deep seated issues between the pair, and it didn't seem to be getting better. She spends the rest of the service trying to think up a way to set things right for her friend, only half listening as Kara and whoever came up after the blonde was saying.

~~~~~~~~

The day following was quite chaotic as the team being sent to the planet's surface departed from Galactica, and Faith found herself aboard Feline's Raptor alongside Bodie, Barolay, Anders and the Tyrols.

The trip down had been thankfully uneventful and they landed without so much as a scouting raider on the DRADIS. As she stepped down onto the soft soil of the planet, she recited out a silent prayer that this would end better then her last on-planet ventures.

That had been fourteen days ago, and so far it seemed that her prayer had been answered for a change, as they'd be gone in another few days if everything continued as smoothly.

So why was it that she had a bad feeling in her gut, seemingly warning of impending danger?

A sudden rattling draws her attention as she sits at the table that ran the center of the tent, taking a break from duty and half listening to Lee bicker with his wife, the topic being Kara. Again.

She shakes her head and rises from her seat to make a hasty exit, having heard it all before and by this point it was tiresome. She pushes past the flap of the tent and takes a few steps out into the valley that they'd set up in between the hills, relishing the sun on her face for a moment.

Taking a glance around the outpost, she sees Jean struggling with some tubing and moves to offer her assistance. She stops short as a sudden buzzing fills her ear and swats a fairly large bug out of the air, stomping her boot down on the fallen insect a moment later.

“Need some help?” She asks Jean as she comes to a stop, but the redhead shakes her head.

“Nah I'm just about done.” Her lover answers, and she gives a short nod as Barolay finishes her work.

The buzzing comes back again and she takes a look skyward for a moment, then down across the hills that tower around the small camp. Finally she shakes her head and writes it off as the early signs of a headache.

That's what she tells herself anyways.

~~~~~~~~

“Where's Galen?” Faith looked up from where she was sitting on one of the crates as Cally came out of the tent behind her, her eyes searching and Faith finds herself looking around as well.

“Saw him heading up that way about twenty minutes ago.” One of the civilian workers spoke up, drawing the attention of both Faith and Tyrol's wife as he nods his head in the direction of the hills to the west.

“I'll go find him.” Nightshade says, flicking her cigarette to the ground as she rises. A couple of her fellow marines stand to follow but she waves them off. “No, I'll move faster on my own, and you two should stay here in case something happens. Tell Lee I'll be back soon if he asks”

She grabs her rifle from where she'd leaned it up against the tent, and begins the trek up the hillside. Hopefully she could catch up to the deck chief quickly, it would be night in a couple more hours and she didn't want to get lost out there in the dark.

“Tell him to get his ass back here.” She heard Cally call as she went, and turned back to give the young mother a nod of assurance.

“Will do.”

She didn't turn back again as she made the ascent up the hill, and about a half-hour later she found herself at the bottom of the other side, staring up at the next hill upon which sat unnatural looking rocky bluffs.

She's about to continue on when she hears someone say her name, and brings her gun up as she turns around in a circle, trying to find the source of the call.

“Don't bother firing Faith, bullets wouldn't do anything to me.” The voice speaks again, this time from behind her and she turns on her heel to find a teenage girl standing there, dressed all in green. She brings up her gun anyways and takes a step back as the girl rolls her eyes.

“Who the frak are you?” Nightshade demands forcefully, tense and ready to shoot if this girl was one of the skinjobs that they'd not encountered thus far.

“A friend, promise.” The girl says, not moving from the spot.

“Got enough friends.” the former pilot replies, her eyes not blinking as she stared at the girl, who lets out a chuckle.

“Didn't say I was yours.” the girl remarks, a small smirk coming over her face. “This has all happened before, and-”

“It will happen again, yeah yeah. Heard it before.” Faith says with a light snarl.

The girl doesn't reply as she looks up at the bluffs, and Faith follows her line of sight for a moment before turning back to face the girl again, but finds that she's gone. 

“Great.” She mutters as she takes a tentative step closer to where the girl had been standing, and then hears her disembodied voice again.

'You're on the right track, keep going.'

Faith stares at the spot that the girl had stood moments before for another few seconds, and then turns and continues on towards the bluffs, once again hoping like hell she's not losing her mind. She wonders if the apparition has anything to do with the blonde woman in the mirror that she'd seen for half a second almost a month prior. Up to now, she'd written it off as a delusion brought on by fatigue, but now she's not so sure.

~~~~~~~~~

She finds evidence of Tyrol outside a cave that led into the interior of whatever the bluffs contained, the deck chief's footprints easily recognizable in the soft dirt at the mouth of the tunnel. She brings her gun up at the ready as she steps into the darkened passageway, wary of any danger that might be lurking in the shadows.

“Chief?” She calls out, her gun held in front of her as she slowly makes her way up an ancient looking set of stairs, and up to a giant door that is slightly ajar. She pushes past and finds herself in a giant cavern, a pillar reaching up at least a hundred yards in the center. There is also some kind of platform a few feet from the pillar and she takes a couple steps closer before Tyrol pops out from behind the pillar, his own gun leveled at her. 

“Whoa! Easy chief, don't shoot!” She calls and Tyrol lets his aim fall as he sees her fully.

“Sorry, wasn't expecting to have been followed.” The deck chief apologizes and Faith gives him a nod before making her way over to where Galen stands.

“What is this place?” she inquires as her eyes fall on the designs worked into the pillar, taking special note of an odd design that lies below a multi-layered circle, which itself is bordered by some ancient text, carved into the stone. It looks vaguely like an axe of some kind, colored red and gold.

“I think its the Temple of the Chosen.” he answers, and the former pilot fixes him with a puzzled look.

“Say what now?” She asks, not having heard of any such thing.

“Something I read about in one of my fathers old religious books when I was a kid.” Galen replies, looking away from Faith to examine the pillar further, and she watches as he reaches out to run a hand over the layered circle. “I recognise this from a drawing in one of the books he had. I think it might be a marker on the way to Earth.”

Faith gives a short nod, not ever really having bought into religion despite her prayers. “We should contact the camp, get a few more people out here. If you're right, Adama and Roslin are going to want to hear about this.”

~~~~~~~~

Faith was watching a few of the scientists that had come down from the fleet on a raptor to try and get an estimate on the exact age of the temple, and turned as Galen stepped up next to her, the shortwave transponder in his hand falling to his side.

“What did they say?” She asks as the deck chief comes to a stop.

“Roslin wanted to know about the markings and then the old man said that they were on alert suddenly and cut off the call.” he tells her and her eyes darken.

She turns and makes her way back out the way she came, stopping as the sunlight hits her again, and she looks skyward before letting out a string of curses at the sight of four baseships just barely visible in the sky, very close to the fleet.

As Tyrol comes out as well, they both get to witness the fleet outside of Galactica jump away, and share an uneasy look between them.

“Not this again.” She groans out in exasperation.

~~~~~~~~

Several hours passed before Sam had shown up outside the temple, bringing with him about a dozen from the camp, including Barolay and Cally.

“What've you heard?” Faith finds herself asking as she steps away from where she'd been leaning against a tree outside the mouth of the entry cave, her half smoked cigarette hanging for the corner of her mouth.

“Lee sent us up to guard this supposed Eye of Jupiter, if it even exists.” Anders gripes, his voice holding a deep annoyance. “Guess the cylons are after it too.”

Faith nods and turns to look at Cally as she pushes past the group and she can see the worried look in the eyes of Tyrol's wife. 

“He's inside.” She tells the crewman specialist, as she motions toward the cave with her good hand. Cally gives her a nod of thanks before hurrying inside.

“So what's in there anyways?” She turns back to Anders as he speaks again, and gives a small shrug.

“Hard to say what this place is, but Roslin seems convinced its a marker for the road to earth, like the lion's head nebula.” Faith replies, not sure what she herself believes. The girl-apparition she'd encountered in the valley had her questioning quite a bit, not that she'd ever tell anyone else what she'd seen, even spoken to out there.

Sam let out another annoyed grunt in response, and Faith tilts her head, a bit surprised at his attitude. 

“What's with him?” She asks, turning to Barolay as the rest of Sam's group follow Cally up into the temple, Sam at the rear leaving the two lovers standing alone.

“Lee Adama is a prick, and Kara's not much better at this point.” Barolay says as she moves up next to Nightshade. “More or less strongarmed us into coming up to guard this supposed Eye of Jupiter thing, citing that it was because we did so well surviving the occupation. Sam told him that it was mostly down to the training you gave us that we pulled through, and that even then it was a completely different situation. Lee told him that it was a good thing you were already here then, and when Sam was still going to say no, Kara pulled rank and told him that Lee was calling the shots.”

“Frakin' A.” Faith cursed, turning to look down into the tunnel in time to see Sam disappear into the temple.

“Should we be out here in the open?” The redhead questions, sounding a bit worried as she looked skyward for a moment, then her eyes fall upon Faith again, and the raven haired marine captain shakes her head.

“Probably not, come on.” She says, holding her good hand out for the other woman, who takes it in hers and they make their way inside side by side.

~~~~~~~~

Troubling news came from Lee a short time later, over the transponder that Galen had. Kara had been shot down in the Raptor she'd come down on as she was doing recon in the valley to the south. Frakking centurions. 

Sam had been enraged as Lee ordered the team at the temple to hold their position, and Faith had voiced her agreement before the connection got cut off as the frequency suddenly jammed up.

“I thought we had eachother's backs.” Sam had nearly screamed at her, and she just held her hand up.

“We do, but I'd rather not end up in the brig for verbally refusing a direct order.” Faith replied, as she picked her rifle up from where it had been leaning against the wall of the temple. For half a second she considers throwing the fact that he'd turned his back on her and Jean by walking out of the Circle, but decides it's not the time or place for it. “That being said, damn toasters have cut off our communication, and chances are good that it'll be awhile until we get it back.” 

She paused for a moment as she turned to face Tyrol. “Kara saved our asses on Caprica, and there ain't no godsdamn way I'll leave her out there to die. If the communication frequency comes back before we do, tell Lee that we're holding the entrance and can't talk.”

“Fine by me.” The deck chief shrugs. “Just don't leave us without firepower.”

“Wasn't planning to, I'm only taking Anders, Barolay and Kostan.” Nightshade replies. “The rest will be here to hold down the entrance, and hopefully we'll get back before they get here.”

She turns back to face Anders, a grim look on her face. “Let's go get your wife.”

~~~~~~~~

Barolay was the first to spot the smoke as the four of them made their way around the mountain, roughly forty minutes later, a steady pillar of gray slowly rising skyward from the northern canyon. They'd picked up the pace at the sound of distant gunfire that echoes off the hills, and to Faith's ears it sounds like a rifle, most likely a sniper hidden atop the overpass on the other side of the valley.

Faith held her hand up to call the group to a halt as they finally reached the valley's edge, and as the other three waited, she crept up behind a large rock, and used it for cover as she took a long, searching look from end to end of the valley as she tried to pick out sunlight reflecting off chrome amongst the opposite tree line. Finding no evidence that the centurions had made it that far, she turns and heads back to the group.

“Okay, Kara's Raptor is about a half-click out into the open, so we're going to have to move quickly.” She informs the other three. “Don't stop, even if they start opening fire on us. We won't get another shot to get across with what we have for ammunition.”

They made their way back to where Faith had taken cover behind the rock and she starts to count down from five with her hand held up. As her last finger folds into her palm, all four take off at a run towards the downed raptor.

Kostan doesn't make it, the other marine of the small group catching a round to the head as they ran across the open space. Faith heard the sickening thunk behind her but doesn't stop running. She prays that Sam and Jean follow by her example.

Seconds seem like hours before she finally comes to a stop behind the relative safety of the crashed spacecraft, and turns as Sam and Barolay dive for cover, a line of bullets impacting the ground behind them and kicking up sand with the force of the impacts.

The sound of the safety clicking off a gun draws her attention and a moment later, Anastasia Dualla pops into view just beyond the hatchdoor of the Raptor, her firearm aimed at the trio.

“You're supposed to be at the temple.” She states, sounding a bit confused.

“Lee should've known I wasn't going to leave Kara.” Anders replies for the group and pushes past Faith to climb up the wing, joining Dee and Kara inside.

“Major's gonna be pissed.” Dee notes as Faith and Barolay follow suit, climbing up into the Raptor after Sam.

“Let him be.” Faith says dismissively. “Is this thing still capable of flight?”

“Yeah, you're lucky you got here when you did. We were about to fly out.” Dee replies, returning her gun to her waist holster.

“We'll see how lucky I am when Adama found out I broke chain of command.” Faith replies wryly as she pulls the hatch shut.

“Lehane, you're going to have to fly.” She turns to see Kara turned around in the ECO's seat, with Sam crouched down next to her.

Faith gives a stiff nod, and pushes past Anders to drop into the pilot's seat. “I never was the best at flying Raptors, so this is going to be rough.”

“Just get us out of here.” The blonde orders impatiently.

“Yes sir.” Nightshade uses her good hand to secure her prosthetic around the left side of the controls, and flicks on the thrusters before pulling up on the steering mechanism. 

The Raptor shoots skyward, swaying a bit as Faith struggles to maintain the rise and avoid getting hit by the potshots coming from the Centurions below them.

A few moments later she lets out a sigh of relief as they've reached a high enough altitude that the bullets are no longer a threat. She brings the Raptor around to face the direction of the temple, and almost as one, all five passengers gasp at the sight before them.

“What the frak is that?” Barolay's panicked voice comes from the back.

“It's the star. It must have gone nova.” Kara says, her eyes unwavering as she stares ahead. “It's beautiful.”

Faith finds herself nodding. “The Eye of Jupiter. We could've searched the temple for days and found nothing.”

“We need to get back to Galactica.” Dee brings the group back to reality, and Faith spares one last look before punching the thrusters to full power, and falls in line with the others fleeing the planet.

~~~~~~~~

The landing back on Galactica went better then any of them expected, as Faith only missed the first attempt to touch down on the deck as the shield doors pulled shut.

“Not bad Lehane.” She turns to face Kara, a bit surprised at the praise. “Doubt I could've done that well with one good hand.”

Nightshade gives a small nod before speaking. “I missed doing that.”

“Deck's pressurized.” Dee notes before she and Jean push open the hatch door. 

Faith waits for Sam and Kara to exit the cockpit, watching them go for a moment before turning to face front again. She lingers in the seat for a moment to unclench her prosthetic from the controls, and then runs her good hand across the dashboard of the Raptor, giving it a soft pat of affection before she rises to make her way out onto the landing deck as well.

She steps down off the wing to join the others on the floor in time to see Bodie and Lee coming out of one of the other Raptors, carrying a bodybag between them and at the sight of it Faith feels her heart sink. Her eyes begin to dart wildly around the disembarking passengers as she wonders who else had been lost, and she feels a bit of guilt at the realization that they wouldn't be able to give Kostan a proper send off.

She quickly makes her way over to where Tyrol and Cally stand, helping to get the bodybag onto a gurney.

“Who's in there?” She asks the deck chief, who looks to her as she speaks and lets a small smile come over his face.

Rather than answer her, he proceeds to unzip the bag at the top and pulls it open.

“Oh this is too good.” She finds herself grinning as she takes in the face of Gaius Baltar before Tyrol rezips the bag and begins to push the gurney away, stopping in front of Colonel Tigh to show him. She watches for a moment and then turns as Jean steps up next to her.

“The shower in your quarters is calling me, wanna get out of here?” The redhead asks, her tone lightly teasing.

“Yeah, I think I hear it too. Let's get out of here.” Faith replies, watching as Sam and Kara embrace by the Raptor she'd flown in for a moment, before allowing her lover to take her by her good hand and lead her out of the landing deck.

The night that followed was not one that either Faith or Jean would soon forget. 

Nor would Captain Aaron Kelly, who had residence in the quarters right next to them, and had to listen to the moans and screams of pleasure that echoed through the shared ventilation system. 

~~~~~~~~  
END ANCIENT TRIBES  
~~~~~~~~

To Be Continued...


End file.
